Underneath Cracked Masks
by W-IIV
Summary: Underneath a cracked mask a former bully is trying to do her best whilst her past haunts her every action. Underneath a cracked mask a wandering girl is trying to not let her past touch her ever again. Underneath their cracked masks comes a surprising romance that blooms in the most unexpected circumstances. That somehow started when they fake dated for a sister's wedding.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

 **Read the bottom Author's note for update schedule and other stuff, anyways enjoy.**

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want me to come?"

Hannah sighed for the sixth time of the day, her hazel eyes rolling as she placed another one of Barbara's clothes into the suitcase sitting in front of her. "Yes Barbara, I'm pretty sure I don't want you to come." Actually that was a lie, Hannah wouldn't mind it if she came, in fact, she would be very relieved if Barbara was here to help her with her situation. But Barbara already had plans, plans she was very excited about and Hannah wasn't going to let her own worries and fears ruin it.

"Are you sure?" Barbara repeated again. This time Hannah when sighed, she dropped the clothes she had and turned around to face her dear childhood friend. "I'll only be gone for one day," Barbara continued, packing her own things on her bed, her back facing Hannah. "I mean Lotte is perfectly fine with it-"

"Yes but I'm not fine with stealing you away from your girlfriend just to join me for a stupid wedding," Hannah cut in as she crossed her arms. Whilst Hannah loved her for it, she has grown tired of her constant worrying. She would be fine… hopefully. Barbara paused and there was a blush on her face when she turned around to face Hannah. Noticing the pink tinge, Hannah let out a small scheming smile. "I'm sure you two would love to have as much time to yourselves," she started, her eyes carefully gauging Barbara's reaction and slow descent into daydreaming. "Going on quiet strolls, reading on picnics and doing whatever cute things you two do."

When Barbara didn't answer her, Hannah smirked at how distracted she was. Her teals eyes were dazed, foggy yet glistening in the mental vision of all those activities and when she sighed ever so wistfully, Hannah had to control her teasing snicker. If this was any other girl, she would downright complain or roll her eyes at how stupidly love-struck she was. But this person was Barbara which meant she could do better, like gain teasing rights whilst being overjoyed at her best friend's happy love life.

Not to mention, Barbara's dopey smile was adorable. The girl was deep into puppy love and it showed. To both savour the moment and to get back at her for the continuous worrying, Hannah discreetly took her phone out from a pocket and snapped a photo of Barbara. The girl was absolutely lost in a daydream with sunlight basking through the curtains to empathise her already angelic glow.

Unfortunately, Hannah forgot to silence her phone and the camera click was loud enough to snap Barbara out of her trance. Fortunately, however, the singular photo was good enough.

"Han… what did you just do?" Barbara asked as she leaned over to grab the phone, Hannah grinned as she dodged left, even running over her bed to escape Barbara. "Did you take a photo of me!?"

Hannah's teasing chuckle as she searched for lotte's contact was enough for Barbara to follow, question answered. She screeched in embarrassment, knocking over some of her already folded clothes on Hannah's bed. Hannah was still moving, albeit randomly as her eyes concentrated on the small screen in her hands, fingers already typing at a fast pace. "Hannah!" Barbara called as she followed her dear friend, even doing small lunging attempts to try and get her before she did something stupid.

"Caught someone- getting distracted- cause she's thinking of you," Hannah said with pauses as her eyes constantly glanced up from the phone and to Barbara before going down again to type.

"At least me see the photo, Hannah!" Barbara said as she trapped Hannah against the back of the couch and stretched her hands as far as she could to the phone. In retaliation, Hannah held the arm with the phone up and away from her friend whilst she had the other up against her face in an attempt to push her back.

"After I send it!" Hannah laughed, leaning further into the back of the couch, her body starting to tilt over.

"Hannah!"

With a sudden lunge by Barbara, Hannah's eyes went wide as gravity pulled her down across and over the couch causing her to tumble over the green cushions and land on the floor with a thud. At the same time, Barbara's eyes went wide as she placed both of her hands against her mouth. Despite her words being muffled, the concern and worry in her voice came out crystal clear. "...Hannah?"

"It sent!" Hannah yelled out in victory laugh as she shot her arm out to the sky. Straight away, Barbara snatched her phone from her and began to flick through it whilst Hannah helped herself up from the ground before tossing herself on the couch she just went over with the lingers of the victory laugh rising from her throat. This was going to be amusing.

"Hannah," Barbara whined as she looked at the photo. "I look like a mess."

"You look fine," Hannah reassured, not even glancing at her friend, a hint of a giggle escaping her words. "Cute even."

"But the background is a mess! Look at all the clothes!"

"Which proves my point how distracted you are thinking about your girlfriend," Hannah said, snickering even when she saw how quickly Barbara's pale cheeks bloomed with colour once more.

"You made me think about her though," Barbara excused as she turned away from Hannah.

Hannah scoffed as she sat upright and leaned over the couch so that she can poke Barbara on the cheek with a sly grin. "As if you need me to think about Lotte." Barbara's cheeks deepened crimson as she swatted Hannah's hand away.

"It's moments like this that I wish Amanda didn't teach us how phones worked months ago," Barbara mumbled under her breath, ignoring Hannah's snort of amusement. She knew that despite the newly opened door of trouble, Barbara loved having a phone and the ability to text. Before she had a chance to call her out on her though, Hannah looked up and saw Barbara's eyes lit up.

"Oh, she saw the message!" Barbara squealed as she leaned back before a horrified gasp left her lips before Barbara tossed the phone frantically back to Hannah. "Oh, Jennifer she's typing!"

"Then why did you give to me!" Hannah exclaimed as she juggled her phone between her hands before she got a firm grasp of it.

"Just tell me what she said!"

Hannah rolled her eyes at Barbara before she looked down at her phone. There was a second of silence as Hannah read the message before she burst into loud and heavy laughter with one of her snorts. "By the nines, you two are perfect for each other," Hannah laughed as she wiped tears from her eyes with one hand whilst using the other hand to show Barbara the message.

Instantly, Barbara's face got relit with the colour red and heat as she buried her head in her hands and buried her hands in the back of the couch. "She's so cute," she murmured to her hands. Though Hannah couldn't see it, she could just hear Barbara big smile through her words.

Hannah chuckled at her as she reread the message again: _Damn it, Hannah! Now Lotte's too flustered to even type let alone pack! ~ Akko_

"And you two are both so gay for each other," she said before she sent an apology of some sorts to Akko. It mainly consisted of her non-maliciously laughing at the scenario before wishing her luck on how to deal with her problem. "It's adorable."

Barbara lifted her head from her hands and sighed, her head found its way naturally on Hannah's shoulder. The comforting weight calmed Hannah with its familiarity. "Yeah," Barbara agreed, amused at Akko's response to Hannah's apology before the screen faded to black. "6 months going strong."

"6 months going strong," Hannah echoed as she put her phone away. As a contemplative silence washed over both of them, Hannah thought back to how they managed to get together and the how they've changed over their two years of Luna Nova.

Ever since the missile crisis where Diana and Akko managed to save the world and magic last year, the power of magic has slowly been rising day by day. Now a solid year after Akko joined Luna Nova there was a sudden influx of students pouring into Luna Nova and other magical academies, inspired by her and her magic. In fact, there was so much that everyone had to leave for an extended three weeks spring break so that school can rebuild the majority of the school and make new buildings dorms for the students.

Also ever since the missile crisis, the three teams of blue, green and red became closer, some closer than others. Hannah remembered how she apologised to Akko and the others about their terrible behaviour. She then remembered how shocked and surprised she was when they all forgave them both with ease. She thought about the times she teased Diana relentlessly about her, not so hidden crush on Akko, about how she can save the world with her one day and then dance around her the next. She thought about the betting pool Amanda created about Diana and Akko, a betting pool that Hannah ultimately won with Barbara and a few other students. (She betted that Diana would be the first one to get her act together and confess).

Hannah then thought about Barbara and Lotte and their slow but growing relationship. The memory alone was enough to recreate the insecure spike in her gut, the events that spiralled weeks after only cemented the uneasy and shameful ache inside. She could never forget the period of growing distance between them, how _lonely_ she was when she kept turning her head to talk to an empty space. How venomously jealous she was at Lotte and her insane theory that Lotte was out to replace her in a hidden act of vengeance for all their bullying before.

In the same vein, the guilt entrapped under her skin for her hideous actions in the first year emerged once more as she remembered how kind and caring Jasminka was to her plights and how she helped Hannah start her cooking hobby. A girl Hannah never really knew beyond simple jokes about her strange eating habits (never about her body tho, they weren't _that l_ ow, their insults had standards) and how stupid her entire team was in the past. In turn, Hannah could never get over Amanda's own begrudging but kind gestures of advice and bold comments to snap out Hannah of her terrible thoughts, though Hannah had a feeling Constanze and Jasminka forced her to behave in that delicate situation. She never believed for once that the rebel considered them as friends, not after everything.

And _who_ could ever forget her and Barbara's massive fight. How stubborn they both were to apologise for saying things they didn't mean and how absolutely dreadful and long the weeks were when they were apart. How chillingly distant they both were despite being a mere 5 feet apart when they slept under the same ceiling. Hannah would never forget the jarring revelation in why she acted the way she did and the long overdue heart to heart talk she had with Barbara. Where they both admitted that they weren't straight as they thought they were, where their friendship only became stronger after the whole ordeal. It's only with that reaffirmation, the gutted pain in Hannah disappeared and the guilt shifted back and away from her thoughts.

The negative emotions were replaced with glee and excitement as Hannah recalled teasing Barbara about Lotte whilst joining in with Diana to help them get together. She could easily remember Barbara being a frazzled mess the night before their first date and reassuring her that everything will be fine. Hannah could still picture her own smug grin when Barbara returned from her stroll around Glastonbury town with a blushing face and a smile that never seemed to end. The flustered sounds she made when Hannah and Diana, hounded her with questions and all the small details about everything that happened on the date. Though it was mostly her, Diana only spoke when she called Barbara out when she noticed her lying or hiding something. Now here they are going on strong with 6 months under the belt.

"Now what's with that happy dazed look on your face?" Barbara teased as she nudged Hannah, almost making her fall over on the couch again. "Are you thinking of a cute girl too? No, a cute guy!"

"Actually," Hannah replied with an eye roll as she went off the couch and walked around it to go to Barbara. "I'm thinking about how much we changed over the years."

"Yeah," Barbara agreed, sighing as she shifted against the couch, readying herself for the obligatory trip to memory lane. "We've changed a lot."

Before Barbara could fully indulge herself in those nostalgic thinking, Hannah nudged her on the side with her elbow. "Oh absolutely," she laughed as she gave Barbara a teasing grin. "You even have a girlfriend~"

Barbara rolled her eyes whilst nudging Hannah back. "And you're having an England wedding."

The amusing laughter died in her throat as Hannah groaned at the stupid attempt of the pun and the fact that they're at this topic again. She really thought that she succeeded distracting Barbara about this with her girlfriend. "First of all," she said as she poked Barbara. "Isabelle, my older sister is having the England wedding, second of all, we're not going to have that conversation again." Hannah then moved away from Barbara, her eyes focused on the now ruined clothes she folded before they ran around and made a mess. "A third discussion is already too much for one day."

"But if we don't find you a date soon you're going to dance with some weird 30 years old with the whole tradition stuff your sister is doing!" Hannah was already shaking her head and the subtle yet no so hidden repeated suggestion.

"It's the price I'll pay," she said with a dismissing wave of her hand as she picked up the clothes with the other. "If you're coming to the wedding, the invitation is still open by the way, then you're coming with your girlfriend and as not as my escape plan to get rid of 30ish-year-old men or as a spite tool."

"Spite tool?"

Hannah turned to Barbara and gave her a deadpan look. "Veronica is coming too, remember?"

Barbara's face turned sour in an instant. Her face recoiled like she just ate a disgusting meal. "Eww."

Hannah nodded her head sagely before she returned her gaze to cleaning up her bed, "My thoughts exactly." As she started to clean, however, more of Hannah's movements became erratic, messy with distractions. By the time she all but shoved a hastily folded shirt back into Barbara's suitcase, an infuriated seething sound hissed from Hannah's lips. "By the Nines, I hate her."

Hannah closed her eyes as she could hear Barbara rushing closer and focused on the comforting motions across her back. In her head the figure of dirty blonde hair and deadly grey eyes appeared, smile so sweet it was sickening. Veronica was the cousin of Isabelle's future husband, Paris. She was a year older than them and was someone Hannah despised more than anything else in the world. Under her good girl guise was a snake, harsh and petty and always played the victim when Hannah defended herself. She even made Diana swear and that was saying something.

"What did the bitch do this time?"

Hannah perked up a bit at the growl of protectiveness. People thought Barbara was someone to walk over when Diana and herself weren't around but the girl could be violent when it came to getting back at people who hurt the people she cared about. It's a shame not much can be done for this scenario. "It's the same old thing, Barbara," Hannah sighed waving off her concern as she picked up the shoved shirt and folded it properly. "Don't worry about it."

"Hey-" Barbara moved in front of her, lightly pushing Hannah away from the pile clothes. "-My clothes can wait."

Hannah grumbled, crossed her arms and glared at her a bit but Barbara didn't budge. "I'm not the one leaving school today." She would be though if she didn't convince the teachers that Diana needed help taking care of the minor dungeons.

"We have time, so spill it, Hannah."

"But what's there to spill that I haven't said already!" Hannah exclaimed, tossing her hands up to the air before bringing one hand down to count on her fingers. "She subtly mocked me for not having a date yet, called me at random times to gloat about her new 'girlfriend' and how easy her life is, made comments about my family and how lucky my sister is that Paris was willing to fall down to her standards. What more can I say?"

Barbara didn't believe her. After so many years of being at her side, she could tell that Hannah was holding something back. "What _else_ did she say?" Hannah remained silent. She just looked away with a bitter look and it hurt Barbara knowing she was right to call out her bluff. "Hannah?" She said, though with a more gentler tone.

"She said…" Hannah sighed, her voice suddenly so tired. She turned to Barbara with bitter exhausted eyes and a sad smile. "She said that it would be easier for me to get a date if I stopped… being confused. That girls would actually find a reason to like me when I get over my 'phase'."

"Oh, what a bitch!" Barbara growled as she clenched her fists before wrapping Hannah into a hug. "I swear if she wasn't a family favourite in Paris' family, I would hex her to space."

Hannah snorted. "Get in line Barbs, I'm sure Paris is already first in line if he managed to find a way to do it without getting noticed." Paris was nice, a little standoffish at first but he quickly got on well with the family. He also hated his cousin after seeing how she treated her and got away with it which was a tick in her good books. Hannah could really see why Isabelle agreed to marry him in a three weeks time.

"Still, don't listen to her okay?" Barbara said, giving Hannah a squeeze. "She's just a biphobic bitch. Her words mean nothing. "

Hannah nodded with a hum of acknowledgement. "I'll try, you know how quick she is to get under my skin."

"Even more reason for you to not be alone for the wedding," Barbara mumbled under her breath.

Yet it was loud enough for Hannah to hear and pull away from her, "I said it already, you're not ditching your girlfriend for me, Barbara."

"Okay maybe not me, but there has to be someone! Amanda probably doesn't have any plans."

Hannah groaned into her palm. "Amanda really?"

Barbara looked at her with the most questioning eyes. "Aren't you guys friends? Didn't she help you out with our fight?"

"Friends of friends, more like." Hannah clarified, "She probably got told to help me with the fight begrudgingly. I'm more friends with Jasminka than I am with her."

"Well," Barbara shrugged, "It's worth a try."

"It's a calculated mess that was it is-"

"Hannah."

"What? I'm being serious," Hannah explained whilst Barbara looked at her. "Amanda hates formal events, my entire thing is about a formal event. Amanda doesn't respect authorities, she's likely going to cause chaos and add more stress towards my Mum and sister. I literally can't think of any good things that can come from her joining. I mean sure, she would get me out of dancing with someone and maybe, dealing with Veronica, but that's it. Apart from those two things, there is nothing good with Amanda coming over."

Barbara answered without a second to spare. "She would be in a suit."

Hannah was about to deny that fact, but as she looked at Barbara who gave her a raised brow, questioning if such an image was _really_ a bad thing, Hannah closed her mouth. She strongly ignored Barbara's giggles and the heat flickering under her cheeks.

"Okay, there are only three good things to Amanda coming." She caved, even more, giggles left Barbara's mouth. "But even then, when I told you guys ages ago about my problem- first people to tell remember, she didn't say anything."

Barbara's eyebrows furrowed, her mind warping back to weeks prior as Hannah turned around and went back to placing clothes away in Barbara's suitcase. Then, Barbara's eyes widened and her brows shot up. "Actually Hannah-"

Hannah looked over her shoulder, but her focus shifted the moment Diana entered the dorm, the sound of the door creaking catching both of them off guard. "Diana!"

Diana looked up at them with a reserved smile. "Hello, girls." Her eyes examined the room, the smile increasing just a bit as the still continued mess. "And here I thought you already finished packing Barbara," she mused with hints of laughter.

"Well that's my fault really," Hannah said as she gestured to the piles of clothes scattered about. "I mentioned stuff about beaches and Barbara forgot that she would be going to a climate colder than ours so we had to do a quick clothes check to make sure she didn't bring anything inappropriate."

"That's fine as long as you help clean up the clothes before we head to the portal. We'll be heading straight to the dungeons after we send them off Hannah and I'm sure you would be too tired to clean up the mess by the time we arrive late at night." Hannah nodded as she turned back around and fixed the clothes a bit quicker. "Anyways you were saying something before I walked in," Diana said as she looked at Barbara who blinked back at her.

"I was but I lost my thoughts- ughhhh. It was probably something important."

Diana looked at her sympathetically, "I'm sure you would remember it in due time, for now, let's get you ready for your trip to Finland."

* * *

Hannah staggered through her dorm door before collapsing on the green couch in the middle of the room. It was dusk and both of her and Diana just came back from clearing the dungeons. She rested her head on the arm of the couch with a pillow, the fatigue evident in her lack of decorum, posture and ways to block the last moments of sunlight that shone on her face. "Is this what you do with the teachers Diana at the end of every term?" She asked in between exhausted breaths of air.

The girl in question casually walked through the door as if she just did a small walk instead of fending off monsters and clearing the minor dungeons underneath the school grounds. "Not really," she answered as she closed the door behind her. On the couch, Hannah sighed with relief but that relief died the second Diana continued to speak. "Normally for these sort of tasks I do it alone."

A small squeak of surprise left Hannah's throat as she sat up and stared at Diana. "Thankfully you and your new project were there to aid me," Diana said with a smile as she looked at Hannah and Hannah, in turn, blushed at the praise. "Your spell worked wonders, by the way, even though you rarely cast it with its high energy expenditure, it can be easily solved when we get back."

"Thank Goodness," Hannah sighed with relief. "I worked hard on that project."

Diana smiled as she cast a spell over them to heal the minor cuts and bruises. Flashes of the nights where it was both of them up at night, not only her alone, working on their own individual spells and projects for the second year. "I'm aware, it's a shame really that I can't use it for tomorrow."

"You're going to do more tomorrow!" Hannah exclaimed, her eyes widening from both worry and awe. She knew Diana was amazing but after what they went through today, bare in mind it was the minor dungeons, Hannah expected her to rest like her and leave in the morning.

"It will only be dungeons we left behind-"

"But those are the dangerous ones!" Hannah realised as she stood up from her seat and pointed an accusing finger towards Diana. "They're the ones we were specially told to be left alone for the teachers!"

Diana sighed before smiling at her friend, touched at her concern and worry for her. She started to get used to people worrying about her and her well being, especially when Akko worried about her as much as she did but the feeling was still uncommon so it was nice when it happened.

"I'm grateful for the concern but do not fret, I will not only be with Professor Finneran but the headmistress herself." Diana couldn't help but chuckle when Hannah fell back on the couch in relief. "Apparently there was a hidden iron maiden in one of those dungeons along with a Minotaur and it's been so long that the headmistress herself can't remember what it was holding."

"Hmm," Hannah mused as a thought came to her mind. "What would Akko be doing?"

"Practising her potion work in the isolated buildings with Professor Ursula," Diana answered as she started to fill the kettle nearby with water before heating it up with magic. "Do you want a cup of tea by the way?"

"If you haven't packed the earl grey already then sure," Hannah said as she got up to help prepare the tea. "By the way, is letting Akko do potions a good idea? Cause if something goes wrong the room will explode...ohhhhh."

"It's efficient isn't it?" Diana smiled as she began to make her tea. "Akko came up with it herself."

"Yeah, it's really smart." Hannah agreed as she began to brew her own tea. "Is that how she managed to stay an extra day?"

"It took a bit of convincing," Diana mused. "Eventually though the headmistress said yes."

"I see…. Hey if Akko wasn't helping with the dungeons, what is she doing today?"

"As she would be busy all day tomorrow experimenting, she told me she would finish packing her luggage today," Diana explained as she led them both to the couch.

"And you're here because..."

Diana was about to take a sip of her tea but she paused to give Hannah a raised brow and a cool smirk on her lips. "Apparently she doesn't want another repeat of the blue team hassling the red team when they try to pack." Upon hearing Hannah's spluttered response, Diana continued taking one long sip.

"Hey I only did that so that Barbara could get off my case about my wedding date," Hannah explained before she looked away with a grumble. "Even then it didn't really work."

"Speaking of your problem with your wedding date," Diana said as she placed her cup down.

"Oh boy," Hannah mumbled under her breath as she reached for her cup to take a sip to hide her annoyance. She really wished everyone would stop getting involved in this. The gesture was nice the first time around but now it's just becoming tediously annoying.

"I'm really sorry Hannah."

Hannah's eyes grew wide as tea suddenly went down the wrong pipe causing her to splutter some of it out. Out of all the responses, Hannah didn't expect that one. "I'm sorry?" She coughed as both a response and the apology for the new tea stains on the carpet.

Seeing her friend in distress, Diana moved to her side and rubbed her back to ease the pain. "I'm sorry for not being available as your wedding date," Diana explained when it seemed like the coughing has ceased.

"Ohh," Hannah said before shaking her head with a bashful yet grateful smile. "Oh no no no, you don't need to apologise, Diana, it's fine, I wouldn't like to steal you away from your girlfriend."

"That may be true but had I not sent my reply to the invitation to the wedding so quickly there might've been another way to settle it."

"No Diana it's fine," Hannah said with one final cough to clear her throat. "I mean, Barbra already gave me a suggestion." Hannah sighed as she began to rub the back of her neck as she remembered what she and Barbara talked about whilst they were packing up and the Amanda suggestion. "It's not exactly the best suggestion," Hannah said slowly with a wry smile as she faced Diana. "But it has its merits."

"Oh?" Diana sat up straighter but leaned against the back of the couch as she prepared for an explanation.

"She told me to ask Amanda to come with me as my date," Hannah explained, her eyes focusing on Diana's expression for any reaction. There was none though which was a shame, Hannah really needed some advice about this option. "I already turned the idea down but I thought about it a lot in the dungeons." Hannah's voice turned slow and thoughtful as she looked away from Diana. "I didn't want to do it at first but now I'm kinda open to it? Maybe? I'm not really sure but I can't ask her since she left already and I have no idea where she would be."

Diana's eyes narrowed as her eyebrows began to furrow with thought. "Why aren't you sure?"

Hannah waved her hand dismissively with a sigh, her eyes looming over the Luna Nova emerging nightlife. Not wanting to unpack why she thought Amanda was a bad idea and confess that she was too harsh yet again on someone that they should be at least be acquaintance with already. She already reprimanded herself in the dungeons for falling back on old terrible habits. "It's because if she actually wanted to help me she would've already asked, I told you guys about my dilemma weeks ago."

Diana hummed to herself as she placed her fingers on her chin to think before she looked at Hannah with a questioning face. "You told us at the movie marathon correct?"

"After the second movie yeah," Hannah answered as she thought back to weeks ago. She remembered it was a wedding romcom that Barbara recommended. She supposed it was a really funny and sweet movie had she not been already preoccupied with her own thoughts about her own wedding dilemma. "And then we all swore not to mention ever again till it was the end of the term."

Diana's eyes shot up upon realisation. "Amanda wasn't there to hear it… that must've been what Barbara tell you earlier on today."

Hannah blinked, this was the first time hearing about this. "I'm sorry?"

"She was doing overnight detention after her potions mishap," Diana explained, wincing at the sudden pause in Hannah's movements. "And I highly doubt her friends told her about the problem till now if they ever told her at all."

Hannah stared at Diana, millions of thoughts and emotions rampaged through her head, all of them expressed with one word. "...Fuck."

"Hannah," Diana chided in an instant as Hannah shook her head, both hands pressed against her face in frustration.

"Sorry…" Hannah sighed as she slowly removed her hands from her face. "I'm just annoyed because I forgot to tell her about it when I said I would- arghhh!"

"It's alright Hannah," Diana reassured, hoping to calm her friend before her temper got hold of her.

"Actually it's not," Hannah hissed anger clear in the snarl, though the anger was mainly towards herself than to Diana. "There could've been a way to solve my problem but because of my stupid head I lost the opportunity for it."

"I'm sure if we called Amanda now or tomorrow she wouldn't mind helping, even if she needs a bit of convincing."

"Ughhh," Hannah groaned, clenching her hands tightly. "I swear the only way for this night to get worse if Veronica called." As if the nine witches were spitting on her, Hannah's phone rang with haunting chime, the one that Hannah put to warn her if Veronica was calling her.

"Speak of the devil," Hannah grumbled as brought the phone to her ear, her face wincing at the loud shrill that was Veronica's voice.

" _Hannahhhhhh! Hiiiiii, how are you?"_

"Hello Veronica," Hannah said bluntly, her voice dull with motivation. A bit of her frowning lips twitched upwards when Diana shot her eyes up and glared at the phone in Hannah's hand. She moved the cups away from throwing range, just in case.

" _Heyyy and you didn't answer my question yet cousin."_

"Future cousin in law," Hannah corrected, settling into her seat with a cushion already gripped in her hand to calm her. "Also I'm doing fine."

" _Are you sure? You don't sound too well."_

Hannah's brow twitched. "I'm fine Veronica."

" _Are you sure you aren't stressed with the wedding?"_

Hannah shut her eyes. Counted to ten at the fake concern and released the anger. "...I'm fine, Veronica."

" _So does that mean you found a date yet?"_

"Veronica," Hannah spat out, her brain already struggling to get a hold of her patience for the insufferable person on the other end of the call.

" _Cause it's perfectly fine if you don't have one, it's only your sister's most important and special day of her life so far."_

"Veronica," Hannah repeated again, furious red began tinting her cheeks, her fingers dug deep into the cushion.

" _I'm being serious Hannah, it's okay if there is no one that actually likes you enough to meet your family- well specifically your mum, sister and orphaned cousins since your dad is probably going to be a no show as always."_

It took every part of Hannah to stay calm. Oh, how she hated having to be nice to her when she crossed lines like this. " **Veronica."** She hoped the tone would be enough, but Veronica ignored her like usual.

" _But if you're that insecure or that worried with social expectations then I can always ask one of my many beautiful exes to help you, it will be tough though cause you're still in a closet of being a lesbian and is still in your confused heteronormative stage and liking boys and everything."_

And there was the biphobic comment, again. By the nine Hannah wanted to kill her. "I'm not closeted about anything Veronica," Hannah hissed through gritted teeth, control tugging at the seams. "The term is bi and I'm very sure about it."

" _Well,_ _ **I'm**_ _very sure you'll get out of this phase eventually Hannah."_

There was silence in Hannah's head. All of her controlled anger snapped, it crumbled and melted at the justified fiery rage in her gut. She wanted to shut that damn girl up but how to do it without causing a fight without witnesses? -Oh wait, there's always that idea.

" _Honestly, I'm actually surprised that none of your friends even wanted to join as a platonic date and I don't mean that as an insult by the way. I'm just really sad for you that your friends aren't really good friends-"_

"Actually Veronica, I already have a date." Hannah cut in, voice cool and smooth. Her gritted frown was now a smirk and it grew wider at the slight jarring pause in Veronica's response.

" _Oh? Why didn't you tell me in the first place, Hannah?"_

"Well," Hannah mused as she gave confused Diana a reassuring grin. "It would be rude to interrupt you after all but I figured that you would be done by now."

" _Hmmm that's fair, now spill the beans. Is it a boy? Or is it actually a girl this time? And when I mean girl I mean-."_

"A _**girl**_ Veronica," Hannah snarled out of anger, she hated what she implied. "And before you butt in again with your ridiculous horrible backward notions, her name is Amanda O'Neill and she's absolutely amazing."

" _Amanda O'Neill... now, where have I heard about that name before?"_

"Well, she's one of the witches from my school that saved magic so she's fairly well known."

" _Oh, So you just have a trophy date then not a real one."_

Somehow diminishing Amanda to nothing but a trophy date made Hannah gain metaphorical steam coming from her ears. They might not get along all the time but she was more than that. "Amanda is not a trophy date! How dare you call her that!"

" _Well if the achievement is the only thing you got about her then she's not really a proper date, is she? She's just a trophy you can show around."_

"She is not a trophy Veronica." Hannah snarled, her words becoming more louder and more passionate with each sentence. "She's more than that." Before she knew it, she pulled her words from praising reserves that usually were saved for Diana or Barbara.

"Amanda is funny to be around like when she makes sarcastic comments or when she pulls a prank. Also don't you dare ignore the fact that she's gorgeous when she doesn't even try, she could be in nothing but shorts, shirt and a bed hair and somehow she's hot enough to make a girl swoon and it's irritating as hell because she knows this. She's cocky and sometimes acts like a bitch but she has a great laugh and she cares about her friends. She's better than you and your date in every way possible Veronica so don't piss her off and don't piss _me_ off calling her something pathetic as a trophy."

Hannah was panting for breath once she stopped rambling. She barely took a break with the sentences and it showed with her red complexion. Hannah didn't even know where all of this came from, all she wanted to do was shut Veronica up and prove her wrong and she did. The silence was all Hannah could hear from the other side of the phone.

" _I see... you care a lot about her."_

"Obviously," Hannah grinned, energy riding from small victory. "Or are you being deaf, again..."

" _Why there were so many words I can't keep up!"_

Hannah rolled her eyes with a not so hidden scoff. "Well, I'll just summarise in 5 words: Fuck you and piss off." With that, Hannah ended the call and tossed the phone to the end of the couch in case Veronica called again. But Veronica didn't and the fact made Hannah more pleased than she ever thought she would be.

"By the nine that felt good to speak to her like that," Hannah confessed after a moment of silence. "I can't believe I did that."

"Indeed," Diana voiced, when Hannah turned to her she was blinking, mouth open from shock and disbelief. "I can't believe you actually went with your Amanda plan."

The smile died on Hannah's face as she sat up and leaned closer to Diana. "I did what?"

Her confusion snapped Diana out of her lingers of disbelief. "...Do you not remember what you said?"

Hannah remained silent. Then panic erupted from her calmed expressions.

"BY THE NINES!"

"Jennifer help me," Diana mumbled to herself as she watched Hannah burry her hands in her hair. "I'll call Amanda."

"I can't believe I did that." Hannah gasped, eyes staring at the ceiling in hopes of an answer that would never come.

"Fear not, I'm sure Amanda would agree to the plan, it will take a while to answer her phone. I believe she is backpacking the English Countryside so she might be in a leyline."

"Oh, Jennifer she's going to tease me to hell."

"A small price to pay when the other option is telling that Veronica you were wrong." Diana shrugged as she called for Amanda on her crystal ball first, surprised by the error message she got instead. Odd, even in a leyline she would at least be put on hold. She tried the phone instead, confusion turning to concern when she went straight to voicemail. "Which you're not doing, by the way, we are not going to give her that satisfaction."

In spite of the chaos in her brain at the sudden change of events, Hannah laughed. "Wow, you really hate her don't you Diana?"

Diana's knuckles clenched, both at the thought of Veronica and at her frustration that she wasn't reaching Amanda. She hoped that they would reach her soon, surely she should be near the end of the leylines at least. "I despise her."

* * *

 **A/N 20Biteen means Hamanda long fic, hello there folks welcome to the first chapter of the stupidly long fic. First things first are the update schedule.**

 **Due to health, school and irl life. I am very busy so I decided to update via arcs, for those who read Sick losing soulmates (still working on that btw) its what I wrote in the last A/N. Anyways to reiterate for this fic: what does updating via arcs mean?**

 **It means I write the whole arc first and then after I'm happy with it. I update the fic one chap a week, every Saturday till that arc is done. For example, this arc is the intro arc which I will talk about in another future A/N. In an ideal world, I wouldn't have gotten sick and I would've finished the arc before I posted this chapter and I could've said, for example, this arc has 6 chaps so you guys get 6 weeks of weekly updates or something like that. But I got sick, school got busy so this arc isn't finished when I posted this lmao. It's okay cause I got like a chap or two till its fully done.**

 **Also when the arc is done we would be in two different scenarios: 1) I have already written the next arc or 2) I haven't finished writing the next arc. If scenario 1 happened, the fic will have a week where it will not be updated to give me a slight breather then the fic will be updated again with the first chap of the new arc. I will state in the A/N if a chap is the last of an arc btw. In scenario 2 which is kinda likely to happen, you just have to wait till I finish the arc and update the fic.**

 **Anyways, updating schedule- done. Now second thing to talk about: this fic. I am very excited to show people this fic, I love Hamanda, a lot. This fic will be focusing on Amanda, Hannah and their eventual feelings, I already mentioned it before but Dianakko and Barblotte are MINOR ships so they won't be there a lot. What would be here is me going it's free real estate on Amanda's and Hannah's backstories, as many fave tropes and headcanons I can fit in and angst cause this me lmao. I need to have angst to balance my many soft fluffy Hamanda one-shots.**

 **If you want to ask questions about this fic my writing Tumblr is:** **.com**

 **If you want to support me I set up a Kofi:** **/worldsinwords**

 ** _Daily Fun Fact: I planned this fic for at least 6 months, (not all the time but like continuously). Currently, it has like 10+ arcs (yes I am aware it's a lot, my friends call me out on it a lot)._**


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you sure you don't want to come too, Amanda?" Jasminka asked concern written all over her face for a second as she ate crisps. She sat on the bottom bunk, her eyes staring at the subtle movements of the mattress above her.

Hiding in the top bed, Amanda flicked her right hand, felt the familiar texture of card and flicked it back into non-existence. She then double checked that she packed everything, a couple of clothes there, another deck of cards here, random shit everywhere- it was ready. A grin made from hidden gratitude and amusement, considering this was at least the 5th time Jasminka said that line, wormed its way to her face as she closed her bag.

"Nah, I'll be fine. Besides, I don't wanna interrupt your old man's birthday." Amanda leaned over the railing and dumped her luggage bag to the floor with a thud before jumping down as well. Her body instinctively tucked into a roll to ease her landing as she turned to Jasminka. "It's a family thing y'know?"

Jasminka stopped her chewing, swallowed as she looked at Amanda, a slight frown on her face. "But Papa doesn't mind you, you won't be interrupting at all."

Amanda shrugged, the grin faltering as she sat on a nearby seat. Her hands were propped behind her head, back legs of the chair swinging as looked up at the ceiling. Her brain's situational quick thinking tried to find a good enough excuse to not go to Russia. It's not that she didn't like Jasminka's family, she thought they were amazing but she really wanted to avoid the whole awkward family talk and the celebration of a family birthday.

"True, he doesn't mind me," Amanda acknowledged with a long exhale, she turned to her friend with an apologetic smile. "But do you think he'll be alright with me gatecrashing the celebration? Not to mention it's bloody cold over there." Amanda added the last one in hastily, noting how Jasminka's frown deepened before she finally gave in.

Jasminka shrugged, no longer trying to persuade her friend to join with the final reasoning, she knew not everyone could handle the cold as she could. "What about Constanze?"

"Consey?" Amanda turned her neck back to the ceiling, using the tiles as a focus to remember what Constanze was doing over the extended break. Oh yeah, working on a ship for three weeks. A rare contemplative frown was on her face then Amanda shook her head and looked back at Jasminka. "Nah, if I went with Cons I might distract her with her engineering project about boats she got with her parents."

Near them, Constanze's bed flipped and from the secret entrance a Stanbot popped up, landing on the bed with a soft thud. Both of the green team looked at the robot as the row of lights on their head blinked, a robotic voice emitting from it. "Amanda I am delighted to announce that you would not be a distraction and that Constanze would very much appreciate an extra pair of hands."

"I'm sure she would Stanbot," Amanda admitted, a yawn leaving her lips as the afternoon sun continued to lay rest on her back, she shifted her body to wake it up, usually she would be in a nap right now if they didn't need to leave the school. "But she would be sailing for 3 weeks straight on a big rust bucket. I'm gonna be bored by the third day staring at nothing but ocean."

"I am sure the captain will find something for you to do."

Amanda snickered with a devious, knowing smile. "Yeah, I'm sure swabbing the deck would be fun as a punishment for actually doing something fun on the ship." There was a pause for a moment before Amanda snorted at an idea popping into her head. "Hell, I won't be surprised if they decided to just drop me off in the nearest country or something."

There was a moment of silence as the top of Stanbot's head began to blink as it began to calculate the probability of that happening. A second later, Stanbot shook their head whilst jumping off the bed and moved to the side. "I did not consider that."

Within ten seconds, the bed flipped over again and Constanze jumped out holding a luggage bag, landing safely on the floor with experience. However, instead of getting ready to leave, she knelt down, brought her protective mask down her face and began to work on hiding the last secret entrance to her bunker with a blowtorch and a few other things.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay on your own Amanda?" Jasminka asked once again. Next, to her, Constanze stopped messing around with her tools, lifted up her mask and nodded to Amanda before continuing on her work.

If Amanda was anyone else, they would just see Constanze nodding at her for no reason but since she was the great Amanda O'Neill, she was smart enough to read the hidden message from that nod. Amanda was touched of Constanze's worry as she agreed with Jasminka's own repeated question, it warmed her heart enough to stop rocking her chair and face them properly.

"Guys relax," Amanda smiled, the gesture softer than usual. "I'll be fine, it won't be my first time alone in England." Amanda looked at the window and the smile dimmed a bit as she stared at the number of trucks and pillars of construction material. In all honesty? She really didn't want to leave Luna Nova but if she got caught staying over the break whilst they were rebuilding and making new buildings for the sudden boom of magic students she would be expelled and oh boy, she couldn't have that. Not when things started to become even more interesting without Akko's help.

"But what about your guardian?"

The frown on Amanda's face grew more as she scoffed, crossing her arms as she fixed her anger on the stupid construction materials. "Won't do anything drastic," Amanda said flippantly, waving her hand to dismiss any other further questions. Her eyes focused on the moving trucks and fae workers, hissing bitterly under her breath. "The dickhead doesn't care enough to do anything like that."

Amanda would be surprised if he even bothered to call her. He didn't even blink an eye that she was part of the group that saved the world so why would he bother trying to do anything for something simple as a 3 weeks holiday? Amanda shook her head away from her thoughts as she turned to the rest with a shit eating grin. "Worst-case scenario I could just third wheel Akko and Diana and stay with them in the princess' fucking castle."

"Or you could stay with Hannah for her wedding," Jasminka suggested off handly, her hand rummaging in the crisp packet for the last lingering bits of the snack.

The smile on Amanda's face paused, her brows creased in befuddlement. "Hannah has a wedding?" This was the first time she heard about this. "Since when did she have a wedding?"

She looked at Jasminka for further explanation but Jasminka paid no attention to her, her eyes were deep into her packet of crisps before she let out a small disappointed frown. "Aww, there's no more." Jasminka shook her bag of crisps once more just to check and sighed when nothing but the crinkles of the wrapper made a noise.

"What Jasminka means," Stanbot continued when they saw that Jasminka was too focused on her empty bag of crisps. "Hannah and her family are hosting a wedding over the spring break, a wedding for Hannah's older sister Isabelle."

Jasminka hummed in agreement as she opened another bag of crisps, the previous packet already in the bin where it belongs. "It's going to be a big celebration! Apparently, the wedding cake is going to be really big..." Jasminka drawled off, her mind already lost in a cake daydream, mouth already full of crisps to feed her hunger lust. "If it weren't Papa's birthday," she said with her voice slightly muffled before she swallowed her crisps, "I would've joined Hannah as her date."

Amanda's eyes widened at Jasminka words, surprised green pupils flickered between Jasminka and Stanbot. "Wait, did you just say date?"

"What Jasminka means," Stanbot continued seeing that Jasminka was too lost in her food daydream. "Hannah had some trouble acquiring an extra guest to her wedding, given that it is her sister's wedding and she is the maid of honour it is important for her to have a date whether romantic or platonic. If she did not have a date she would be forced to dance with an older man probably in his late 30s at the reception. It is natural to assume that the given scenario would lead her to be very uncomfortable. Since she doesn't know the boys at Appleton very well, she has asked around if anyone would accompany her as her guest for the wedding."

Amanda glared at Stanbot, her eyes narrowed in confusion as a frown appeared on her face. "Why the hell is it so important to get a date?" Amanda leaned against the back of the chair with her arms crossed, an uneasy unknown emotion pooling at the bottom of her stomach. Amanda squashed it before she could figure out what it is. "I mean I get why, but like _why?_ "

"When she first told the group about this, she said the main reason why was tradition," Stanbot explained further. "It's a really old British tradition that after the first dance of the night, groom dances with the mothers of the couple, one by one. The bride does it with the fathers, then the maid of honour and the best man dance."

Amanda's face turned sour as the frown deepened to a scowl. So she was the last person to know about this huh? She would never admit to anyone else but that fact gutted her in the chest a lot more than she expected it to be. Sure they weren't the closest of friends, sure they mainly platonically antagonistic with snarky comments and new ways to get into each other's nerves. But she was the first person to figure out that she's been getting anxiety over Barbara months ago and helped her with it, she assumed that Hannah trusted her with this, she assumed that they were _friends_.

"That's a stupid tradition," Amanda scoffed as she looked away to try and hide the angered irritated look in her eyes. "It's also really out of time considering that _I_ never heard of this."

"She's a family about traditions," Jasminka shrugged as she continued to munch on her snack.

"Which is stupid," Amanda snarled, trying really hard but failing to keep control of her emotions. "It's even stupider that she's following these things."

Jasminka frowned at Amanda, "It's not her fault that she has to follow it, her sister wants that at the wedding."

"Speaking of which," Amanda snapped when she realised she couldn't hide her displeasure anymore longer. She turned to her team, teeth and anger bared as her eyes glowered at their general direction. "Why am I only just hearing about this wedding thing now?"

Stanbot and Jasminka paused whatever they were doing and looked at each other, then they both turned to look at Constanze who stopped her bed dismantling to look at them before looking at Amanda. Then, to break silent tension between everyone, Stanbot walked over to Amanda and stared up at her with a tilt of their head. "Where were you weeks ago at the movie marathon in the witching hour?"

The anger in Amanda's face disappeared for a bit as she blinked in confusion. She didn't exactly expect that question, nor did she expect to come from a small robot and in an interrogation fashion. "Ummm," Amanda said as she scratched the back of her head to think. "I think wasn't there? I mean I was here at the school but like, I had to do night detention for the potion mishap I got caught for."

Stanbot nodded as the lights on their head flickered and created a happy pattern. "There's your answer," they said as they turned on their heels and walked back to where it last stood.

Instantly, Amanda understood why they fell silent and why they not only haven't told her till now and even why it wasn't even discussed during the lunch breaks they share. Amanda gave her team an apologetic smile and rub the back of her neck sheepishly upon the realisation that they probably weren't allowed to share the story to begin with.

"Sorry for snapping," Amanda mumbled as her cheeks burnt red with shameful embarrassment as she looked down at her shoes. "When Hannah told you guys about the wedding, it was one of those, what happens in the room stays in the room sort of things wasn't it?"

Before anyone could actually answer, a sudden collapse broke the awkwardness in the room. Everyone practically jumped and stared at the smoke cloud that replaced the sight of Constanze's bed. Near them, Constanze stood up and waved the dust clouds from her face as she took off her mask and gave Amanda a big thumbs up.

Amanda looked at Constanze, then at the broken mess of what was once a bed after the dust clouds evaporated. "Was…. that for my question or for telling me that you're done?" She asked cautiously as she kicked the frame of the bed lightly before backing away with her hands in the air as the bed collapsed even more at the singular contact.

"I believe it's both," Stanbot said as they too kicked the bed, fortunately for them, nothing else broke or collapsed even further. "I also believe that the final entrance to Constanze's lab is very secure and won't be found during the rebuilding of our dorm wing."

Amanda snorted as she began to heave up her luggage bag over her shoulder. "Yeah sure, it's secure as it is a wreck." Amanda looked at the window one more time. She still glared at the construction vehicles and the materials that finally started to be moved around but she then found herself looking beyond construction site to the Leyline portal in the distant where she thought she saw a familiar yellow bow.

For a second she frowned at the sight before she sighed and shrugged off any negative feelings she had towards Hannah. Is she annoyed that she was probably the last person to know about the wedding? Oh absolutely. But does she care? Nah. It's not worth her time, for now at least. Her loss anyways, had she been told Amanda would've helped if only to give her teasing hell. Too late now, even if Amanda defenestrated herself and flew all the way to her to ask.

"Come on guys," Amanda said as she finally tore her eyes away from the window and gave her friends and teammate her usual lopsided grin. "Since Constanze is done wrecking her bed, we should probably get going to the leyline."

* * *

"And here we are," Amanda exclaimed as she placed their brooms down, her eyes not leaving the leyline portal in front of them. She let out a frustrated yet defeated huff of air, crossing her arms against her chest. This was it, this was where they're going to separate for the holidays. She silently wished that the school could do something like they did last year for the summer break but she knows that's not possible with the rebuilding. They already stayed as long as they could as students, except for those in special circumstances like the princess Cavendish who had to double check and triple check locks and security with the teachers.

"Do you mind if I accompany you in your travels, Amanda?"

"Huh?" Amanda turned around, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she looked at Stanbot who was staring right at her, before glancing at Constanze who stood behind them. "Is that allowed?" Constanze and Stanbot looked at each other in an open but hidden conversation of eyes and fast gestures. Constanze turned back to Amanda and there was a second of silence before Constanze gave Amanda one of those rare but genuine smiles and Amanda's heart became lighter at the adorable sight.

"Constanze said it is okay!" Stanbot exclaimed. They waddled over to Amanda and tilted their head up to face her. "In fact, she agreed that it is better if I accompany you as I am already fully functioning and only a clone to the original Stanbot."

Amanda chuckled at Stanbot, completely touched by both Constanze and Stanbo. She patted Stanbot on the head as she passed them as she head over to her two roommates. "I'm going to miss you guys." Without hesitation, Amanda forced them to an infamous green team hug pile and like always, Constanze was stuck in the middle. "Both of you stay safe alright? Especially with the shitty wifi or no wifi connection. " Amanda knew and hated that the ocean didn't have wifi or that Jasminka's wifi was often terrible but it didn't bother her till now, she really was going to miss them, even if it is for three weeks.

"Don't worry Papa and I will only do light activities because as he doesn't want to me to get hurt," Jasminka assured as she squeezed her two teammates and lifted them up a bit from the ground.

"Which is?" Amanda asked, her voice going octaves higher than normal after being bear hugged, she swore she even heard her back crack a bit.

"Wrestling with bears of course!" Jasminka laughed as she lowered them back to the ground. "Mama might join too if she spots the biggest one."

The moment her feet touch solid concrete chuckles of laughter left Amanda's lips as she shook her head in disbelief. "Y'know, your family is amazing Jas."

Jasminka hummed in happiness as she ate a sweet that she opened after hugging her friends. She was about to eat a second one before she looked at the sweet in her hands then back to Amanda. Without any hesitance, Jasminka walked past Constanze, who was already setting up her mechanical broom and stood next to Amanda with her hand outstretched. "Here, it is good to have something sweet for the journey ahead."

Once again, the smile on Amanda's face was nothing but genuine as she took the sweet from Jasminka. "Thanks, Jas, I'll save this for tomorrow."

"Ah!" Jasminka cried as she dug her hand through her many pockets, producing another mystery sweet from them. "Have this one now!" She said as she placed the sweet in Amanda's hand. "That way you have one now and the other tomorrow."

Amanda gave Jasminka a one arm hug from the side whilst she placed the sweets in her pocket. "You're sweet Jas," Amanda grinned as she withdrew her friend from the hug.

Jasminka returned the smile back as she readied her broom and sat on. "I am what I eat." Amusingly enough, as soon as she said those words Jasminka began to munch and finish another bag of salty crisps before she flew into the Leyline.

Straight away, Amanda turned to her final teammate who was already hovering in the air, ready to leave with the snap of her finger. "You ready cons?"

Constanze looked to her and held her thumb up. "Constanze wishes you to take care," Stanbot said as it stood between its creator and their new travelling companion. "She also says to think about asking Hannah to join her at the wedding just in case, Diana should know where she lives."

For the final time of the school term, Amanda was touched at Constanze's thoughts and concern about her and her well being. "Sure," she said and was actually surprised at herself when she meant it. She raised her fist to Constanze, smirking as Constanze bumped it back. "Just make sure to kick ass at the mechanic's ship alright?" Constanze nodded but instead of her usual tight-lipped frown, the rare but adorable wide smile on her face once more as she lifted her broom higher and went through the Leyline.

Amanda had her hands on her hips, a smile on her face as she watched Constanze go through the leyline and disappear. "So Stanbot," she said as she looked down at her robot friend with an adventurous smirk. "You ready to backpack England?"

Stanbot let out an excited series of beeps as they lifted up their arms and jumped. "Extremely, Amanda." Amanda laughed at the reaction as she knelt down and allowed the small robot to climb and sit on her shoulder.

"Alright," she grinned as she began to sit on her broom, ready to say the flying incantation. "Time to go on an England adventure!"

Just when she was about to say the spell, something vibrated in her bag causing Amanda to stop and look at her bag. "That's odd," she murmured to herself as she got off her broom and placed the bag on the ground. Still, the bag vibrated in short but continuous pulses and the confused frown on Amanda's face deepened as her eyebrows scrunched up together. She knelt down, opened it and stuck a hand down the bag to rummage for the vibrating object in her bag. Sounds of moving clothes and clusters of miscellaneous goods echoed in the empty schoolyard as Amanda plunged her hand deeper in her bag.

Eventually, she managed to feel the vibrations against her skin and she pulled out the object. Her eyes grew large in surprise as she stared at the thing in her hand. It was a small crystal ball, it was small enough to fit in the palm of her hand and it just vibrated for a couple of times before stopping completely. "Okay..." She said with a weird face as she looked at Stanbot for a bit of an explanation. "Is this some sort of prank?"

Stanbot looked at her, then at the object and gave a shrug. "Perhaps someone is calling you?"

"But who would bother calling me now?" Amanda turned the ball in her hand, tilting her head as she continued to inspect the object carefully. "And with a crystal ball of all things..."

As if to answer her question, the ball vibrated again and in sheer surprise, Amanda slapped the surface of the ball in a panic causing it to stop vibrating. For a second there was silence before a familiar yet irritating voice spoke from the ball.

 _"Hello? Amanda?"_ A masculine voice with an American accent asked. Automatically, Amanda suppressed the groan rising from the back of her throat as her eyes sent metaphorically knives at the object in her hand.

"Oh, it's you," she said, her voice void of all emotions and energy. "Hello, Dick."

 _"Richard,"_ the voice seethed and Amanda couldn't stop the snicker that came from her smirk.

"Same thing."

 _"Alright I'm going to ask this now before I forget,"_ Richard said, completely ignoring Amanda's comment. _"Why in heaven's name have you been missing my calls?"_

Amanda looked at the orb confused with a frown on her face. "I've only missed you once jackass!"

 _"On your phone you buffoon!"_ Richard clarified, _"You kept missing my calls so I was forced to use, use this primitive thing!"_

Amanda rolled her eyes at Richard's comment about witch technology. It wasn't the first time she heard this from him be it won't be the last. "I had to turn it off cause I going to the Leyline and non magically infused technology like phones could mess up the journey.

 _"Wow,"_ Richard said with a haughty laugh. _"How primitive."_

"It's the same things with airplanes ya dumbshit," Amanda snapped back before he could say anything else.

 _"... Is this how you greet your dear brother Mandy?"_

Amanda inwardly bristled at the horrible nickname but she forced herself to stay calm and show no sign of annoyance. "Stepbrother," she corrected instead, trying really hard to not sound pissed off but she knows she failed that in some level.

 _"Siblings all the same,"_ Richard chimed and Amanda wished she can wipe the smug smile she can hear through his words, preferably with a punch.

"As if you like to be associated with me," she snorted as she waited for the rebuttal.

 _"I wouldn't,"_ Richard said and Amanda's frown turned smug from the annoyance in his tone. _"But we're a part of the family."_

Amanda scoffed, "What's that? Your next corporate tagline?"

The silence made the next couple of seconds golden.

"Holy shit it is!" Amanda cackled loudly as she fell to the floor holding her chest tight, "I can't believe it! It's so fucking shit! Like what kind of capitalist slogan is that!" She sat up straighter and cleared her throat. "We're part of the family," she mocked as she went into another laugh. "What bullshit!"

 _"Oh, what would you know?"_ Richard snapped back from the ball as Amanda began to wipe the tears from her eyes. _"You haven't touched the family business in years."_

"I know enough that whatever bs you said is shitter than your stepdad," Amanda said back with a menacing grin. Just like that the jovial teasing atmosphere between them died and the hollow silence that followed those words became deathly.

 _"And I here I thought your attitude against **our** father changed after your years at Luna Nova,"_ Richard said, his voice curt and direct as he stressed out the term our quite a bit. _"I was stupid for presuming."_

"I second that notion," Amanda quipped before Richard could add anything else, her free hand curling to a tight fist. "Congrats on figuring out the obvious Dick, you're stupid as fuck."

 _"Richard!"_ Richard snapped back equally quick, Amanda grinned at the fury laced in his voice. _"My name is Richard, Amanda and you shall remember it as such!"_ Amanda laughed at his words, enjoying every second of misery he is in.

 _"Honestly be better than your whore of a mother and remember people's names, could save a life after all,"_ Richard said viciously.

Amanda's shit-eating grin died right there. She closed her eyes and held the strap of her bag as tight as possible, forcing herself to calm down. When her eyes opened not a second later, fiery steel was evident in those emerald eyes. "I'm surprised you even had time to call, isn't there a poker table with high bets waiting for you," she said just as equally as vicious as Richard. It was a low blow, an extremely low blow but then again, he fired first with making that comment.

 _"I'm calling because our father needs you to come back home,"_ Richard said, his voice curt and full of controlled rage.

"Your stepdad is an idiot too then," Amanda snapped, her anger not as controlled as her stepbrother. "I'm not coming back till I'm done with school, that was the plan."

 _"Plans changed Mandy,"_ Richard explained with a small sigh. _"I've been told by our father to send you the message that you need to come back."_

It was a simple message but Amanda sadly knew her gene pool contributor and she knew the real message wouldn't be that simple. Even her gut that saved her from getting caught most of the time in her midnight strolls repeatedly told her that it was a trap. "Hah," she grinned as she took out her wand. "You've been demoted to a messenger boy Dick."

 _"RICHARD!"_ He snarled, Amanda could hear the spit frothing in his mouth. _"How many fucking times do I need to tell you?"_ Whilst he continued ranting loudly at Amanda, Amanda waved her wand and whispered a truth spell over the orb, just to make sure. The spell only lasted for one question and when it was done, the other person would be aware that a spell was cast. The way it worked that if the other person tried to lie to the caster when answering the question, the caster would only hear silence because the other person can't speak but only worked for a yes or no scenario.

"Alright alright," Amanda said, speaking over Richard's rant against her. "Quit your yapping and let me ask you a question." With a grumbled noise, Richard gave her the silence she needed. "Do I _only_ need to come back for the 3 weeks holiday? Yes or no?"

The silence from the other side said everything Amanda needed to hear.

Amanda's face darkened as her eyes narrowed in hatred and she bared her teeth viciously at the crystal ball even if Richard couldn't see it. "So I'm guessing I come back permanently huh?" She snarled.

 _"How did you know that!"_ Richard gasped, cementing Amanda's guess much to her anger. _"What did you, Amanda?"_

"A truth spell you fuck," Amanda growled as she stood up; from the orb, Richard cursed in anger. "Play the messenger boy Dick and tell your step douche that I'm sticking to the plan her fucking forced me into and I'm not coming back there till I'm done with school."

What Amanda expected was another rebuttal, some sign of anger or fury. She didn't expect a laugh. A laugh that scared her a bit considering how pleased it sounded.

 _"I was hoping you're going to say that,"_ Richard chuckled, his calm and perhaps excited demeanour was very much off from what Amanda expected. _"Here's the second part of the message dear Mandy: If you don't cooperate, we'll **force** you to cooperate and I think you know what that means Amanda."_

Amanda's face paled and her eyes went wide. For the first time in a long time, there was fear in those green eyes, fear she hasn't felt for a long time. "He wouldn't," she said, her voice quiet from disbelief, lips shaking. "He promised me he wouldn't."

Richard laughed again as he savoured every single hurt word that came from Amanda's mouth, "Promises are made to be broken."

"He told me he wouldn't break it! That if I went to Luna Nova the fucker won't do shit!" Amanda screamed from anger and rage. There was a mixed range of emotions coursing through her body, but what surprised her the most was the sense of betrayal. She always knew that there was a chance that this could happen, she just never expected it to actually come true. How stupid of her to have hope that a shady businessman wouldn't stoop so low, again. It was like asking a dog not to bark, a stupid inevitable and she was an idiot for thinking that it would be different this time.

 _"And I told you plans has changed you, deaf idiot!"_ Richard snarled, showing no sympathy for his step sister. _"God I'm so glad I'm not actually related to you."_

"That's my line you ass," Amanda said, her mind not fully focusing to create a better rebuttal to his words. She was still hung over about the problems in front of her, of the fact she had to go home and the consequences of not doing so.

 _"Whatever Mandy,"_ Richard sneered. _"Our father is sending people to collect you so it's best that you stay put to avoid the hassle."_

"Yeah, fuck no," Amanda scoffed as she suddenly scanned the nearby area, just trying to make sure that no one was actually here to take her away right now. There was the twinge of guilt, one that was cracked open in her chest. She tried to force it to close but the heavy beat of her heart, coursing with lost emotions expanded against her bandaged walls, widening the crack slowly but inevitably.

 _"I meant hassle for your **friends**."_ Amanda stiffened at the words and Richard once again laughed deeply at her fear. Conflict within her started and stopped in an instant and the heavy guilt washing over her initial peace started to drown her lungs. _"You're an idiot for thinking that your father didn't pay attention to you last year. We all know about how you saved the world and we know all about the new nine witches."_ Amanda gulped as quietly as she could as a plea to any of the old nine witches chanted in her head. "And we will harass every single one if you go on the run."

Inside her brain, Amanda began to scream curses at Richard, both the swearing type and the literal hexing type. She can deal with her life becoming hell for the next three weeks but she can't do that to her friends. Not when Jasminka is actually home to celebrate her dad's birthday, not when Constanze is in an important workshop in the middle of the sea, especially not when the new couples in the group like the dumbass, princess and the nightfall fans now have some alone time. She couldn't do that to them just because she's running from her family in England...

England.

"Hey, what if I'm not on the run?" Amanda said, her mouth become dry from slight desperation. Her heart pounded in her ears. "Like I'm in an event that I can't escape from?"

 _"If you're in some sort of primitive witch competition, you can do that under supervision before returning home."_

Amanda ignored the anger boiling in her blood as she forced a sharp silent exhaled breath from her lips to calm down. "No, what I mean is a formal event."

Automatically, there was a round of laughter from the other side of the orb. _"Going to a formal event just to escape family."_ He laughed, _"Wow Mandy I never thought you were so desperate! Besides, it won't work if you're just gonna gatecrashed or be added in just now."_

"Well, jokes on you I'm already invited to a wedding, weeks ago. I have to help prep it and everything." There was a smile on her face, her confident bravado coming back in bandages and stitches.

 _"Well then, we'll just send them some dowry as an apology-"_

"A _nobility_ wedding." At least she hoped it was a nobility wedding, Amanda always thought Hannah was just saying that to gloat how better she was than everyone. There was a beat of silence as Amanda could just see Richard's monkey brain going through what she meant and what that could mean, not only for her but the family. "And I'm also going as the maid of honour's date," she added quickly just to sweeten the deal.

 _"How in God's name are you invited to a noble wedding?"_

"Unlike you Dick," Amanda cooed into the crystal ball with the smuggest grin ever, the bravo turned that turned genuine became hidden relief, expressed with the ooze of victory in her voice. "I have connections to higher places. I am a witch who helped saved magic after all."

 _"You're bluffing."_

"Am I Dick? Am I _really_?" Amanda grinned. "You're a gambling addict so shouldn't it be easy to tell if I'm bluffing or not?"

There was a long beat of silence before Richard broke it again with a voice so angry, so cold and so _frustrated_ that Amanda's cheeks were going to hurt from the big smile on her face. _"Whose getting married, Amanda?"_ What made it better was that he was too mad to notice that obvious jab.

Amanda scoffed, "As if I'll let you find me that easily." She then looked at the school building and back to the orb in her hand. Her fingers closed in on the sphere to test its grip, she threw the ball up in the air before catching again with one hand to test its weight.

 _"We'll find out!"_ Richard screamed as if he knew that their connection was going to end soon. _"We'll find out eventually!"_

"Whatever Dick," Amanda said with an eye roll as she readied herself to throw the crystal ball against the school walls. "But first, do yourself a favour and fuck off." And just like that, Amanda threw the crystal ball as hard as she could to the wall. Richard was still yelling something to her but she didn't exactly care, especially when whatever he said was cut off the moment the ball impacted the wall and shattered.

There was a moment of silence as the dust that came from the collision finally settled. Amanda stared at the ruins of the crystal orb, repeating the conversion over her head once more before collapsing on the ground from all the stress she's been suppressing during the talk.

"I'm screwed," she moaned as she placed her hands over her face and dragged them down her face, nails pulling against the skin. "I'm so fucking screwed."

"Actually," Stanbot said as they picked themselves off the ground. "I believe you took that conversation rather well."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Stanbot," Amanda murmured as she let out a tired sigh. "I'm still so fucking screwed."

"But you found a third solution to your problem. Before you had the two choices to this: stay and stay forever or go on the run and have your friends be harassed until the holiday ended or you were found. Now there is the choice that you could stay with Hannah and avoid all the trouble!"

"That's the part I'm screwed about Stanbot," Amanda sighed as she sat up. "Hannah already left for the wedding and I have no idea where she lives. There's the chance she already found a date back home or she won't let me stay for the wedding if I did find her and asked." The only thing that calmed Amanda was the fact that they were probably still friends, even if Hannah forgot to tell her about the wedding to begin with.

"I see..." Stanbot murmured as they sat down next to Amanda and began to unravel all the other possible solutions for Amanda.

"Also there's the problem that if I don't leave now, my shitty dad's people will be here to collect me and there goes my future life at Luna Nova." Amanda sighed as she looked up at the grand Luna Nova building. "But if I leave now and not be at Hannah's place then they'll start harassing everyone else eventually!"

"Is Diana aware of your family problems?"

Amanda looked at Stanbot curiously before turning her direction to the east wing where her dorm is. "A bit yeah caught me in a bad time screaming on the roof." She shook her head of the memory as she thought about everyone else. "Jas and Cons know a lot but not all, Akko knows a fair bit and Diana know enough of the situation as a summary but not any of the minor details."

"How about you tell her or Akko about the problem you're facing now. They could give advice, a place and an excuse for you to stay another night at Luna Nova and they could also convince Hannah for you to stay and give you a ride to her house."

In an instant, Amanda picked up Stanbot and hugged them against her chest. "Stanbot if you were a human girl I would've kissed you right now."

"This is one of the times I've grateful for my small robotic and genderless existence," Stanbot joked in a monotone voice.

Amanda laughed at them as she gave her another squeeze before letting them go. She then lifted her luggage bag and placed it over her shoulder. "Alright now to find the princess."

"What about Akko? It would be easier since she's probably in her room," Stanbot suggested.

Amanda looked down at Stanbot before crouching down to let them climb over her body. Eventually, Stanbot settled at the top of her head. "Akko's here?"

"It would be unwise to leave Akko alone in the Cavendish manor with Diana's aunt and cousins despite their new relationship, even for only one day," Stanbot explained and Amanda found herself agreeing, from what she heard about them from both Akko and Diana, Diana's family were almost dysfunctional as hers.

"Alright then," Amanda said as she then lifted her broom. "Time to find the local dumbass." With that, Amanda said the flying incantation and flew upwards to the windows of the red team. She just hoped that things could work out. Little did she know that her solution was in her bag and that it started to silently vibrate later on in the night.

* * *

 **A/N It's hilarious really, reading the past comments going ahhhh can't wait to see Amanda teasing Hannah, knowing that she won't in this chapter. Anyways that brings me to my new thing! Bread crumbs.**

 **As you know now, this fic had 6 months of planning that means I thought a lot about the plot, so if you want to try and find the bread crumbs for future plots go ahead! This is my first time planning this extensively so I want to see how good I am at hiding hints, showing plot etc etc. Theorise! Get back on me making you eventually have emotions by unknowingly getting the future right lol XD**

 **Fun Fact: One of the first things I made for the story was the dialogue between Amanda and her step-brother Dick. I literally made it on a holiday trip last summer on my phone (when I first started planning). It has not changed much in this version.**


	3. Chapter 3

One Hundred and eight.

That's the number of messages and voice calls Hannah left for Amanda before Diana told her to stop and go to sleep, or try to at least. Hannah found it hard to sleep when all she could think about was Amanda. Or at least, where the _hell_ she was!? She thought talking to the girl and explaining her problems would be the most anxiety-inducing thing of the day but noooooooo- trying to just contact her was!

Amanda was radio silent. Neither her or Diana could talk to her through phone or crystal ball, apparently, Amanda has no crystal ball for some strange reason, Hannah swore she had one before. Hannah wanted to ask Akko for help but Diana convinced her not to tell her last night because if Akko knew her friend was missing, she would stop at nothing to find them- even if it means leaving the school when she's not supposed to. So that just left both of them on their own because now they had the trouble of time zones between all of their other friends who probably have their own misery of jet lag or broom lag.

So here Hannah was starting her day, with nothing but spite in her blood. Well, there was a bit of worry here and there for her safety but that was small- like a bomb, and there was no way in hell Hannah was going to let that explode and override her angry system.

"I swear to Jennifer," Hannah growled as she aggressively brushed her hair. "When I find that girl I'm going to slap her."

"I don't think that would be a good way to convince her to go to your house for the wedding Hannah," Diana warned as she got ready for the day.

"Yeah well, she deserved it," Hannah responded back with a bit of a growl whilst she did her usual ponytail. "One Hundred and eight messages and she hasn't even replied! I know she's an idiot but you would think she would get a hint that I need to talk to her!"

"Hannah I advise for you to have some tea, calm your nerves before you start a blood hunt across England." Diana's voice was calm, like she seen this all too many times before, mainly because she had. Usually with a night of bad sleep, Hannah would need either tea or coffee to become human, however, in her sleep induced spite Hannah didn't notice it.

"I'm fine-"

"You're concerned. An admirable trait if you weren't cranky when you're famished."

"I'm not cranky!" Hannah snapped as she whirled around to Diana. Diana, in turn, gave her a raised brow, intrigued that Hanah didn't refute the concerned comment. Hannah however, mistook that for something else and blushed when she believed she proved Diana's point in being cranky. "Hey… is the tea offer to make me less cranky still available?" Diana merely shook her head from disbelief and laughed.

* * *

An hour later after they both had breakfast and Hannah double checked she packed everything, she was ready to fly home, or at least walk with Diana to Akko's room. Even though Hannah was friends with Akko (but really only in technicality in her mind) Hannah had to give her the usual best friend warning and who knows, maybe their normal little squabble could be enough to distract from the abnormal actions of Amanda.

There were still spite lingering within Hannah but the amount was minuscule as the minutes flew by and Amanda still hasn't replied to her messages or voice call. Sure Hannah knew she wasn't a mornings person but it was around 9am now she has to be up by now- unless something bad happened like- Nope! She's not going there, it's too early to think dark thoughts.

Hannah shook her head as she quickened her pace up the many flights of stairs, ignoring how Diana gave her a concerned look as she rushed ahead. Hannah was starting to lose her breath but she didn't care, she knew how cold her hands were a moment ago, how ghost pale they were. The exhaustion could give her back some colour. Besides, she knew Amanda was a tough girl, she would be fine. She had to be fine, just so that Hannah could give her a piece of her mind and then invite her to the wedding. Where she would join…. hopefully.

Nines dammit, it was too early for anxiety as well.

Shaking her head yet again, Hannah marched through Akko's corridor, barely glancing at the ajar door of Amanda's room as she went past and slammed Akko's door open. She really hated going back to her bad habits but right now she needed a distraction and mildly irritating Akko till Diana arrived was the easiest one to find. The best thing she could do was hold back from getting all up front in her face.

"Akko," Hannah called, her face red from slight exhaustion as her hazel eyes scanned the room. Akko's room was mostly bare, save from the few luggage that looked somewhat full among other things, like a metal box? Akko didn't reply but Hannah easily spotted her on the lone bed to the left near the shelves. Odd, wasn't that usually Sucy's bed? Why would Akko sleep there when her bed was the lower bunk?

Hannah ignored the choice of sleeping conditions and she marched inside, at the end of the day the person in Sucy's bed wasn't Sucy so she should be fine. "Akko," she repeated again, louder this time as the body in bed stirred a bit with a groan, one that didn't quite sound like Akko's usual morning groans. Still, Hannah continued- her desire for the normality of a petty fight muddling the easy connections Hannah would've made on a different day.

With a bit of a subdued growl, Hannah reached over the blanket and yanked it away from Akko, exposing her harshly to the morning cold. "By the nine Akko wake up!"

As Hannah expected the figure shot up, eyes wide open with a tired but justified scowl on their face, except it just wasn't the girl Hannah was expecting.

"Bloody hell Akko, what the fuck man!?"

There was a pause as Amanda and Hannah shared the same silent sigh of surprise. Unknowingly in the present moment, between the two of them, this would be the first of many where time just stops entirely in the next few weeks.

Glaring green eyes connected with the agitated hazel before both pairs of eyes widened. The frown on Hannah's face faltered to open gasp momentarily before it was reverted to a snarl a couple of seconds later. Now that her mind was caught up with reality, there was nothing between Amanda and Hannah's justified rage.

"What the fuck are you doing here Amanda!?"

Amanda blinked, her mouth still forming that same hung open gasp. "Oh my god, I didn't realise you knew how to swear."

Hannah took a sharp inhale as she threw the blanket over Amanda's body and turned around, her body coloured with scarlet rage. She couldn't believe it, she couldn't bloody believe it. Of course, Amanda was here, why was she not surprised!? Of course, the troublemaker would still try and do something stupid and stay an extra day without permission. Of course, all of her worrying for her safety was all for **nothing**. Amanda probably saw her messages and ignored her just for a joke! She wouldn't put her past that.

"By the nine I can't believe I was actually worried about you," Hannah seethed, not realising that she spoke her thoughts out loud until Amanda's fumbles with the blankets stopped.

"Wait, what did you say?"

"NOTHING!" Hannah denied as she whirled back to Amanda, half hoping that she was dumb enough to think the red on her face was from anger and nothing else.

"No seriously," Amanda said, her voice somehow acting seriously. "What did you say?" By the nines, was that a smile? Was Amanda mocking her? Was this still all a joke? Ohhhh, Jennifer, Hannah was not letting that happen.

"I said," Hannah growled as she stalked up to Amanda and got up into her face. "What the fuck are you doing here O'Neill?"

The tension between them was thick, layered with their cracked foundation of barbs and moments where each other just pushed the other a bit too far in their retaliation. It was a delicate line of fabric, where if cut wrong, it could cause all sorts of trouble. It was a metaphor that broke the moment Akko slammed the door open.

"Amanda, you're up!" Akko said, somehow ignoring the atmosphere in the room as she cheerfully walked in. "Jasminka left some snacks behind so I got you some stuff for breakfast-" She dumped them all on Amanda's lap, forcing Hannah to back off with a glare, only then did Akko notice the British girl. "Oh Hannah, when did you get here? I thought you went home by now. "

"Yes, well…" Hannah sighed before she looked between the two of them, eyes lingering particularly on Amanda. "I'm going to get going." With that, she turned around and walked away, head down as she passed Diana's concerned face.

Akko's interruption, though meddlesome and sudden as always was what Hannah needed. That pause of time made her realise the harsh backwards shift in the air around them, how familiar it's toxicity tasted like. She needed some space to think about what she has done, what she was about to do, her thoughts and her feelings derived from a singular loud emotion. Nines she was pathetic sometimes.

Behind her she could hear Diana's own surprised questions, her own distant queries before Hannah heard her footsteps race after her. "Are you alright Hannah?" Diana asked when they reached the second floor of the east wing. At her questions, Hannah stopped herself as she sighed heavily, arms crossed as she glared at the brick walls. "I heard shouting before Akko entered the room."

"I hate her," Hannah admitted, more to herself than to the girl next to her. "I hate her so much."

Diana nodded as she edged closer to Hannah, fingers just hovering over Hannah's shoulder in a hesitant show of support, although the open territory in a fight between friends was familiar with Hannah and Barbara's fight, it was still new to her and worried her for brief moments. In the end, she placed her hand firmly on Hannah. "Your anger towards Amanda is justified, I would be similar in your shoes."

Hannah blinked and exhaled with an unsteady shutter, she really was talking about herself but she didn't want to unpack all of that this morning. Her hating Amanda was an easier thing to digest, for both of them. "Yeah…" She agreed. "I got so worried and here she was here all along. Pathetic." Inside her brain, her mind whispered what she really meant: _I got so worried for her health but instead of celebrating that she was okay, I screamed at her face and swore. Pathetic._

"She may have her reasons," Diana mused as she turned to Hannah. "But if she understood the gravity of her faults, you should forgive her."

Hannah stared at her, unsure if Diana was talking about Amanda or if she figured out that Hannah was using Amanda as a placeholder for herself. In the end, she took the easy way out. "Perhaps," Hannah said slowly as she looked away from Diana. "If Amanda realised her faults that is."

"She will in time, she is a good friend," Diana said with assured confidence in her voice. "She will most likely join you for the wedding." Hannah shifted at Diana's words and a despairing black hole emerged in her gut, famished for emotions, ready to make Hannah feel empty again. Amanda was a good friend sure, but they weren't friends were they? Not really after everything, especially when Hannah, her past bully, had the audacity to dump her problems on her like her fight with Barbara. Did she even say sorry for doing that?

"You are still asking her right?" The question snapped Hannah out o her thinking as she turned to Diana, surprised to see blue eyes focused on her. "I understand your qualms but it doesn't feel right to see something you stayed all night thinking about to be tossed away in a moment's notice, especially considering Veronica."

Just like that, Hannah shoved all her insecurities and problems aside. Diana was right, she needed to focus on trying to convince Amanda to come to the wedding. Deal with the current problem now and focus on any other problems later. "You're right," Hannah said as she looked up to the far ceiling, where she thinks Amanda would be still. "If just to make the matters less terrible, Amanda needs to come. I hate her but I hate Veronica more."

Again there was another coded message, tucked behind a big smile Hannah gave to Diana. _I hate myself but I hate Veronica more._ After that, she boarded up everything else in her head, friends or- Amanda first, everything else second. Which brought her to another perplexing question.

"Also why in the nine's names was she here in the first place?"

* * *

"Okay, what did you do?"

Amanda turned to Akko, confusion all over her face with her hands up in the air. "What do you mean what did I do?" At first, she was happy that Hannah was here, she would be ecstatic even if she didn't wake up first thing in the morning. Then that all changed with the sudden flip of a switch that turned on for no good reason! Amazing she got the blame!

"I mean," Akko said as she went to the door, peered down the hall before closing it. "Hannah literally stormed off and Diana ran after her, I never saw that before."

Amanda grumbled to herself as she took a cereal bar from the pile of snacks and began to unwrap it. "I swear I didn't do anything." Seriously all she ever did was wake up, that's it. Then again, she is in Luna Nova when she wasn't supposed to be but that's not enough to make Hannah _that_ mad, right?

"Well, Hannah is mad at you for some reason," Akko sighed as she sat on her bed and looked at Amanda. "Did you ask her to go to the wedding?" By the look on Amanda's wide eyes, it appeared that she didn't.

Amanda choked on her snack as she stumbled to her feet, shaking her head as she did so. She completely forgot about that, though in her defence she was more concerned about the wake-up call. "Fuck-" Amanda hissed as she stubbed her toe as she literally delved into her bag, tossed out her phone and some clothes on the bed. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK." Snacks fell down from her movement as she quickly took off her shorts with little regards to her privacy.

"Oh geez Amanda," Akko yelled as she shut her eyes and looked away so that she doesn't see Amanda naked. "A little warning next time."

"Sorry, Akko but I gotta go catch a brit and convince her to let me come to her wedding."

"Her sister's wedding!"

"Who cares a country is getting married."

"Hannah cares! She gets annoyed when people think it's her getting married." Akko clarified as she tried to stand up but hit her head against the bunk bed. "Oww, Amanda are you dressed yet?"

Amanda gave herself a quick look over in the mirror and accepted the messy attire of some ripped jeans and a buttoned-up red and black flannel in front of her. "Yeah you can open your virgin eyes now Akko," She laughed as she fixed her hair a bit with her fingers, too lazy to grab a brush. "Also since when did you become all buddy-buddy with England?"

"Since I and Lotte started to date her best friends," Akko grumbled as she walked over and grabbed Amanda's phone. "Also don't forget your phone you-" Akko's voice stopped as Amanda's phone lit up at her touch, exposing Akko to the wall of messages and voice calls Hannah left Amanda only a night before.

"-Idiot!" Akko exclaimed as Amanda turned to her. Akko marched over to Amanda and forced her phone to her hands."No wonder why she's so mad at you!" Amanda peered down at her phone, the confused expression faltered as a sea of messages exploded on her lock screen. Amanda barely glanced at the messages as she kept scrolling down, guilt gnawing at her insides and her consciousness.

 _Message me back when you see this message. (5)_

 _Amanda, I understand if you are in a leyline but please message me when you get out. (23)_

 _Amanda, are you okay? (56)_

 _Look I know I'm being paranoid but its been 2 hours, surely leylines don't take this long (87) Amanda, I'm being serious. It's midnight. Are you okay? (99)_

 _Nines, I'm heading to bed. Diana told me not to worry so I'll trust you to be okay. You HAVE to message me in the morning okay. (105)_

 _NINES AMANDA ITS MORNING WHY THE FUCK HAVEN'T YOU CALLED BACK? (106)_

 _Just please (107)_

 _tell me you're okay (108)_

"I fucked up," Amanda said after a moment of silence, a nervous, fearful laugh escaping her throat. God, she was an idiot. She heard the phone vibrate as well last night but ignored it all thinking it was Dick trying to make sure she came back to America, it didn't occur to her that someone else wanted her attention.

"Yeah no kidding," Akko laughed too, more from disbelief than fear. "I would be so mad if I needed you but you didn't reply, only to find that you are literally so close and not like- I don't know, London or something." Amanda groaned, facepalming herself as Akko looked at her with questioning eyes. "Why didn't you check your phone before though?"

"I thought Dick was calling me!" Amanda gave her a pleading look, her eyes frazzled as she sat down. "I didn't know it was Hannah, I didn't know she was _here_ till you told me last night and told me to ask her in the morning when she's not tired." Amanda laid back on Sucy's bed, crushing what snacks remained on the bed as she stared the ceiling lost."What the fuck do I do now? Get on my knees and plead for forgiveness?" Her lost eyes snapped to Akko, her frown was desperate and her eyes looked aghast. _Beg?_ " She didn't want to but if she had to put her pride down just so that she doesn't go to America she would do it in a heartbeat.

Akko shrugged as she laughed into her hand. "I mean, you can tell her why you need to go-"

"-Nope," Amanda cut in, her expression snapped to seriousness in a matter of seconds before she raised her hands in defence as Akko gave her a look. "Listen. She doesn't need to know about my bullshit alright? The past is literally worth nothing."

Besides, Amanda knew how rich people worked, she knew _exactly_ how they worked. They would take every little small detail of a person and use it against them to get what they want. Though Hannah never stooped to that level, she was certainly liable to it.

Call it Leverage, blackmail, a trade, the act was still the same. It was disgusting. Amanda didn't want to go through it again.

"Whatever I guess," Akko sighed. Amanda nodded at her, appreciating that she didn't push on her further before Amanda stood up and walked to the door. "Hey, where are you going?"

"To find Hannah and fix my fuck up," Amanda said as she opened the door, her eyes widening as she saw the hazel eyes blink at her. "Hannah," Amanda laughed, surprised at the sudden appearance. "Hey."

Hannah, now calm after the brief surprise ended, gave Amanda a look, "Can we talk?" She said as she peered over her shoulder at Akko before looking back at Amanda. "Privately?" Without saying a word, Akko moved past Amanda and walked outside, not before giving Amanda a smile of good luck. Which Amanda was really grateful for because really, looking at Hannah's controlled but probably pissed off face, she needed it if she ever wanted to go to the wedding.

* * *

Hannah struggled to control her grin, forcing it to a thin line on her lips as she watched Amanda's green eyes flash a bit of fear to Akko when she moved past her. It became even harder when she walked inside and closed the door, a small wince in Amanda's face as the door shut. It was clear that Amanda knew her mistakes, a slight relief turned amusement as Amanda's feet shuffled on the spot. It was amusing to watch the oh so confident and cocky Amanda O'Neill look scared for once.

Her own secret glee faltered as she thought about the talk Diana shared with her, where she was dealing with her own hidden guilt before she pushed it back to focus on the task. She needed Amanda- if nothing but a spite tool for Veronica. Amanda had to come, all the other problems Hannah had to that should be secondary. At least focusing Amanda's awkward actions was a good distraction.

"So ummm," Amanda started, breaking the tension a bit. "You wanted me?"

Hannah laughed, hazel eyes locking onto the phone in Amanda's hands as she fell to an easy and familiar talk and behaviour without realising. "So you finally read your messages huh? Took you long enough to read a hundred or so messages." There was a wince from Amanda and Hannah closed her eyes briefly to stop herself from falling further back to old habits.

"Yeah and I'm really s-"

"Save it." To her surprise, Amanda actually shut up though Hannah wasn't going to question it as she powered through. Hannah opened her eyes, a scowl on her face as she closed her arms on her chest. "I don't care anymore, you're here right now so let's get it over and done with okay?"

Hannah paused, almost expecting a response but as she looked at Amanda it was obvious from her out of character, serious demeanour that she wouldn't be getting one. "If you didn't know already my older sister is having a wedding during our break and I need a date." Not surprisingly, Amanda's eyes widened as Hannah's own mouth formed a grimace. "Yes, despite your idiocy I want you to accompany me as my date for the event and the weeks prior to it."

"Seriously?" Amanda laughed, Hannah assumed it was from shock or the idea that this was all a joke. Especially with how wide her eyes were and how she stuck her fist in her own mouth to stop her laughing so loudly. "You want me to come to the wedding as your what? Romantic date?"

"Platonic, as my platonic date" Hannah clarified before stiffly nodding her head. "But yes, I am inviting you to my house for 3 weeks and to come as my date to my sister's wedding."

"I can't believe this," Amanda chuckled, her eyes turned upwards to the ceiling as she did a loud exhale before turning back to Hannah. "Sure why not."

"Why not?" Hannah repeated, surprised at how easy it was for Amanda to agree. It was almost as if she wanted to go to the wedding… "Wait, what you do realise that this is a wedding? A formal event? That you need to behave or else you'll be kicked out?"

"Yep," Amanda agreed, the start of a smirk clinging on her lips. "I'll behave for the wedding don't worry. You won't hear a complaint from me England."

Hannah blinked, this was a lot easier than she expected and to be honest? It creeped her out a bit, why in the nines was Amanda looked so eager and happy to go to a wedding? She wasn't even going to complain! Hannah grew up with the phrase 'Don't look at a gift horse in the mouth' but she really couldn't stop being sketchy at this. "Even if you need to wear a dress?"

Now Amanda winced, a small sight of normality that gave Hannah more relief than she ever realised. "I mean," she started slowly, looking away from Hannah as she scratched the back of her neck. "I guess? I don't want to but if I have to I have to y'know?"

"No I really do not," Hannah said honestly as she stared at Amanda with questioning eyes. "And why in the nine names are you agreeing to all of this? You're not usually like this?"

Amanda grumbled as she looked away, one hand was on the back of her neck, a surprising amount of colour on her cheeks. "Yeah well, I read your messages and I felt bad. Behaving is the least I can do as an apology."

Oh. Well, that made sense at least, though it surprised Hannah that she was sincere about this. Now when she thought about it, this was the first time she saw Amanda like this, blushing and all. Even when Amanda helped her out before it came with a grumble and mostly at Constanze and Jasminka badgering her. It actually looked a bit-

Hannah stomped that thought, whatever it was, and turned away from Amanda. She made deliberate attempts to ignore the flutter of heat on her cheeks. "Right, anyways… I umm will meet you at the front of the Leyline portal," she said as she headed to the door and opened it. "Try not to get caught." With that, Hannah closed the door behind her.

At first, Hannah was relaxed, relieved that everything was going according to plan but that relief died when she opened her eyes and saw two girls staring at her, each with their own little smirks and smiles. It was only when she really noticed the lingering heat on her cheeks, Jennifer dammit.

"So Amanda is coming as your date huh?" Akko grinned, her smile was cheeky as the glint in her eyes.

Hannah frowned, eyes glaring as she quickly fell back to their usual but now harmless barbs. "Unfortunately but on the bright side Akko, you won't be the only idiot at the wedding."

"Hey!"

"Hannah," Diana started causing Hanah to look her way, half expecting a light chiding. "Did you remember to ask her why she was here, to begin with?"

Hannah blushed out of embarrassment as she remembered how adamant she was to know why Amanda was still in Luna Nova moments ago. Then again, she was caught off guard with how easily Amanda agreed to her proposition. "No but it doesn't matter now, Amanda said yes to being my date, platonically," She added as she watched the smirk in Akko's face grow a bit. "If I really wanted to I'll ask her when we get to my house and besides." Hannah grinned as a sense of pride filled her, "I managed to convince her to wear a dress if I wanted to her to so that's going to be fun."

"Hah," Akko laughed as she nudged Hannah. "As if you would deny yourself to see Amanda in a suit."

Hannah couldn't ignore the blush on her cheeks if she tried, then again Akko couldn't ignore her fool's error as she tried, especially when Hannah pointed her wand at her. "Akko we may be, technically, friends but I will not hesitate to deny your wedding rights as Diana's plus one."

"Alright, that's enough fun for now," Diana said as she stepped between the two of them. "We all got a lot of things to do so let's get going shall we?" Hannah sighed in agreement, nodding her head to Diana before she walked back to her dorm and got herself ready to go back home.

* * *

Amanda was surprised to be first at the leyline before Hannah. Actually, she was a bit away from the front, just hidden behind a pillar just in case she got caught by her teachers, or a fae worker, or whatever her step douche of a 'brother' sent to collect her in case she stayed. She hasn't seen anyone par the usual worker and occasional senior teacher but she couldn't be too careful.

Especially when she was so distracted remembering how easy it was for her to go as Hannah's date like, it was so stupidly easy that it was laughable. Not that Amanda mind, she was glad that she didn't need to do something like getting down on her knees and beg for forgiveness. Although there was that small issue to wear a dress it wouldn't be that bad, as long as she rocked the look, she could ignore the subtle uncomfortableness of it all. It would just be an overgrown skirt, yeah that didn't help as much as Amanda thought it would.

"Finally," Amanda murmured to herself as she spotted the bright yellow bow Hannah wore on her head. She was getting so goddamn bored that she was half tempted to bring Stanbot out of her bag and talk to them but hey, at least she had brunch- if a bunch of crumbled and snapped snacks counted as one. With a quick look in case anyone was watching, Amanda moved out of her hiding place and headed to Hannah. "Hey there England, where's the leaving brigade?"

"Doing their last jobs for the school and keeping the teachers distracted," Hannah answered as she turned to her, eyes in a constant glare as she looked Amanda over.

Amanda in turn, looked at Hannah back, after all this was one of the first times she has seen her in something different from the usual uniform. Her hair was in its usual ponytail with the yellow bow, she had a simple striped sweater design and blue jeans. It was strange to see Hannah wear something so simple, Amanda thought she would wear something that shows off more, whether it would be status, money or just her general figure. Then again, she only is just coming home and whilst Amanda didn't want to admit it, she looked good.

"Do you have a suit?" Amanda shook her head as she got out of her trance, barely catching what Hannah asked her but somehow she answered the question already, judging by Hannah's surprised arched brows. "Oh, you're kidding me, right? Nines looks like we're going shopping before we head to my place."

"Wait- what?"

Hannah ignored her surprise as she got on her broom and motioned Amanda to do the same. "Tia Freya!" Watching Hannah fly up, Amanda did her own incantation and followed her through the portal. The familiar breeze of Luna Nova against her body disappeared and what replaced it was the native tingles of the leylines dancing between the small goosebumps of her covered sleeves.

"A good first impression will go well with my family," Hannah explained as she flew next to Amanda. "Knowing my mum, we would have dinner for our arrival and a good impression will probably do some damage control-"

Amanda's eyes grew wide. Did she hear that correctly? "Damage control?"

Hannah grinned, the magic of the leyline cast over her hazel eyes, creating this proud glint. "My cousins don't take kindly to visitors unless they need to." Their eyes met and Amanda could feel her own eyes widen at how _sly_ Hannah's were, a feat Amanda didn't think the goody two shoes could have. "They would probably try to prank you if you're not a social circle threat," Hannah laughed as she sped forwards.

Amanda laughed back, her grin wicked as flew past Hannah and looked back from her shoulder. The idea of being pranked, by Hannah's cousin of all people, who were probably some stuck up rich kids was hilarious and the idea to prank them back was stupid but who was Amanda if she wouldn't do stupid things? "Thanks for the pre-decoration of war Hannah."

Amanda laughed harder at Hannah's obvious expression of confusion and its transition to the growling, annoyed face Amanda knew all too well. "Oh no you don't," Hannah growled as she glared at Amanda. "You said you're going to behave for the wedding."

Amanda laughed as she flew her broom around Hannah's, doing some unnecessary tricks because she can and because Hannah's annoyed reaction was looking beautiful. "Yeah for the wedding, not for the weeks prior," she reminded before flying past her again, mainly to avoid her rage.

"Amanda O'Neill you're wearing a dress for the wedding!" Hannah screamed at her, the all too familiar tone of frustration was music to Amanda's ears.

"If that's the price to pay for having fun then so be it!" Amanda called back, her laughter loud and clear.

"Amanda!"

Amanda chuckled as she looked beyond the tunnel of lines, where the magic of fate and chance intertwined. "Looks like the next few weeks won't be a bore after all."

* * *

 **A/N I honestly hope that I'm portraying Hannah's struggles with herself well, like- I want to show that Hannah is trying but she still falters. Sometimes being angry or stressed makes things easier to fall back on bad habits but she is trying. When I first wrote this it was a struggle lmao but oh well, it's done lmao. See you guys next week!**

 **Fun fact: That scene up there with the almost fight, was a lot angstier but I pulled most it back, I felt that them being really antagonistic would carry on a lot in the future chapters with how serious it was.**


	4. Chapter 4

When Hannah lead them out to their leyline exit, after Amanda did a bit more teasing as she did with all her friends, Amanda was surprised at the architecture of the area. It was nothing like Blytonbury or Glastonbury Tor, the place where Amanda thought they would be, it was more old yet modern? Or was refurbished the word she was looking for?

The place was something out of a goddamn movie or fairy tale. Smooth cobblestone lined the streets, windows that peaked out of houses to the streets had that crisscross shaped design. The black street lamps reminded Amanda of Victorian England, flora grew on the walls but looked organised and well trimmed, keeping to the town's aesthetic. Surprisingly it was busy, it had the hustle and bustle of a big town but the pleasant air of the village.

"Yo England, where are we again?" Amanda asked as she caught Hannah walking ahead without out her, the fact that it looked like she knew where she was going gave Amanda some relative ease.

Hannah paid no attention to her as she walked along the pavements, giving the windows casual glances. Amanda followed her, almost jogging at one bit to catch up and walk next to her, eyes focused on Hannah and the buildings to not notice that the rest of the crowds were giving them a wide berth.

"We're in the tourist town of Bodmin," Hannah explained as her eyes scanned the shop fronts for the specific shop she was looking for. "It's the closet Leyline stop to my estate." Next, to her Hannah heard a laugh before it got quickly suppressed, causing her to stop and turn to Amanda with questioning eyes. "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry but Bodmin?" Amanda snickered, struggling to keep a calm face. "Like what kind of name is Bodmin?"

Amanda was half expecting a telling off for making fun of her town but instead of a frown, Hannah showed off a wicked grin, laughter spilling between her two slightly fanged teeth. "You think Bodmin is bad? There's a place up north called Kirkwhelpington."

Amanda's eyes widened before her bellowing laughter echoed the streets, it was so contagious and so stupid that even Hannah couldn't stop but join in. "You're kidding me?" Amanda wheezed, voice staggering a bit from the lack of oxygen as she leaned against a store to catch her breath. "That name exists?"

"Google it if you want," Hannah grinned. "It's up there with all the other terrible British names."

Amanda gave Hannah a teasing look, an eyebrow raised at her to match the Cheshire grin. "Like England as a surname?" Hannah shoved her with an eye roll before walking off again.

"Oh come on!" Amanda laughed as she raced up to her and draped an arm around Hannah. "We were about to have some fun."

"Yes, we were," Hannah agreed begrudgingly as she unwrapped Amanda's arm around her neck. "That was until you open your idiotic mouth." Before Amanda could make a comment, Hannah opened a door gave Amanda a good shove to an unknown shop with a cackle. "Now go get a suit, idiot."

"Jesus Christ Hannah!" Amanda yelled as she tried her best to catch her balance and make sure the bag strapped on her back didn't fall. In the end, she was about to fall if she didn't grab hold of a clothing rack. Around her were clothes, fabric, mannequins, both dressed with prototypes and naked and Amanda gulped as she noticed the sign on the counter: " _Madame Rita's Tailor Shop"_

Hannah ignored Amanda as she closed the door behind them, her focus was only at the tailor who was staring at them with shock, confusion then recognition as her face turned to a smile. "Ahh Lady England, it's so nice to meet you again." Amanda's eyebrows shot up as her head snapped to Hannah. Lady England? Wait. She was actually a noble!? Amanda thought she just called herself that to boost her own ego.

"Ahh Madame Rita, it has been far too long," Hannah smiled, expression genuine as she went over and gave the tailor a respectful courtesy.

Madame Rita gave her a courtesy back, a chuckle leaving her lips. "Indeed, it has been far too long." She looked up and saw Amanda before turning back to Hannah. "Tell me, do you want me to make a dress for your friend?"

Hannah looked at her with a smirk and Amanda immediately gave her a long silent plea that turned to a sigh of relief when Hannah shook her head. "A suit if you will. Amanda here will be staying at my place for the holidays and requires only the best attire for when my mother meets her at dinner tonight, which is why I brought her to your fine establishment."

"Oh Lady England, you praise me too much."

Hannah laughed again, voice light and airy with delicate praise. The sound made the girl Amanda laugh with only minutes ago in the streets be a completely different person. "I only say the truth, Madame Rita. Your dresses I asked for Hanbridge event were beyond words."

Annnd that was Amanda's cue to leave the conversation. She didn't want to hear Hannah kissing someone else up, though it was surprising that Hannah kissed other behinds that weren't Diana's. With a quick double check over her shoulder that she wasn't being watched or that she was needed Amanda sneaked away. If this Rita person was making her a suit so badly she could easily find her.

The store, in spite of it's cosy and normal appearance, was massive and colourful. Sketches and patterns decorated the walls, rows of mannequins ( some clothed and some not) filled the empty space. Large rolls of fabric were piled on top of the other in their separate shelves and everything looked like a rainbow exploded. Amanda never saw as many colours in one place as she did till today with the seas of blues, green, red and other colours.

"There you are Amanda, carry this for me please?" Amanda turned around at her name, eyes growing to the size of clothes now shoved in her arms, it reminded her of all the times Akko brought them to a shopping spree, where she thought she knew what Amanda would like and the memory made her pale. Though her skin regained colour as she looked at the clothes more closely, some of them looked good, somehow.

Amanda looked up with her Cheshire cat grin as she saw Hannah- Lady Hannah, in front of her as she balanced the pile in her hands. "What's this for M'lady?" The smile grew as she watched Hannah's cheeks burn the lightest shade of pink before it was flickered away with her scowl.

"Don't call me that," she frowned before she dragged Amanda to a changing room. Amanda chuckled at her reaction, more ideas to tease her forming quickly like bubbles. "Also it's the suits Madame Rita gave me for you so strip."

"By the nine! M'lady England how forward of you," Amanda gasped theatrically, one hand placed on her chest as she looked at Hannah. "If you wanted me out of these clothes so badly the least you can do is say please."

This time, the blush wasn't so easily hidden as Hannah growled, hands up against Amanda's back as she shoved her into the dressing room and turned around. "Oh shut up and get changed, O'Neill."

Amanda shrugged as she placed the pile of clothes to the seat near her and started to undo her buttons slowly, just waiting- watching, for Hannah's reaction in the mirror. Which was a struggle considering how much she was terrible at hiding her laugh, body shaking as she waited for her to turn around? Amanda was on her last button, back shoulders and upper back exposed when the moment she waited for came. "Amanda what are you laugh- NINES CLOSE THE CURTAIN AMANDA!"

With a sharp rattle of metal curtain rings sliding across the metal beam, giving Amanda the privacy she needed to change, Amanda exploded with howls of laughter. She knew that the moment was going to bite her in the back but in all seriousness? Hannah's reflected expression of shock, embarrassment and rage from Hannah was worth it. She didn't even need to look to know that Hannah's cheeks burning red behind the wall of fabric between them.

* * *

Hannah paced outside of the changing room, another pile of clothes in her hand, dark mutters whispered under her breath, mostly about curses for Amanda's existence. Hannah really wanted to kill her, she really _really_ wanted to kill her. If it wasn't for the laws of the land and the fact that she needed her to deal with Veronica, Hannah would kill her right there and then. Every part of her was enraged at the little stunt she pulled, blood was boiling, cheeks were burnt. She denied any part of her that was hot for another reason, like the mere pathetic sight of Amanda's muscular shoulders.

"So, how do I look M'lady?" Amanda said as she pulled back the curtain, with a smirk Hannah ignored as she marched right in.

"Atrocious, tacky," Hannah spat out, ignoring how parts of her brain called her a liar, even though she never looked at her. That didn't mean that she would, it's easier to say she looked terrible in a suit of all things when Hannah didn't have a visual representation to prove her wrong. "You look like a monster that came from the swamps and shopped at a thrift shop."

"Aww you called me a Cryptid," Amanda cooed behind her, tone teeming with amusement. "That's so sweet of you M'lady."

Hannah rolled her eyes with a scoff. Nines will she ever drop that? It was irritating and was an obvious attempt to fluster her- which doesn't work, at all, no matter how her brain argued that it did. "Yeah whatever, anyways you're getting out of that outfit and trying on this pile of clothes," Hannah demanded as she replaced the batches of clothes and tried her best to get out. The key word here was tried- Amanda stepped in front of her before she could reach the curtains. Hannah still refused to look at her.

"No seriously Hannah, how do I look?"

She hated how genuine the girl sounded, there was no hints of a tease, no evidence of a smirk in the tone and it made it harder for Hannah to not look and give her a proper response. "Adequate," Hannah mustered in the end as she pushed past Amanda, fingers grazed on the smooth fabric of velvet cotton, just giving Hannah enough of an incentive to glance at her as she passed. She saw the glimpse of a dark blood red blazer with organised pulses of yellow and amber, akin to the colours of lava before she slammed the curtain shut.

There was a brief moment of silence, only broken by movement on the other side of the curtain before Hannah came back to reality. Hannah let out a large sigh, one hand was already massaging the headache she suddenly gained from the amount of heat that was trapped in the changing room. Nines why do they make changing rooms so small?

No matter, she had jobs to do, one of them being to put all these things away. "I'm going to go put back the first batch of clothes Amanda." She called out, a grin slowly making its way to Hannah's face as she remembered what the second batch of clothes looked like. "And you have to wear every single one of those suits I gave you."

She pulled back the cackle rising in her throat at Amanda's detested shock. "Wait, each one? Hannah no offence to your tailor friend but these look shit!"

"Good, it will fit you perfectly then," Hannah snickered as she turned around.

"And if I don't wear them?" Amanda countered.

Hannah paused and turned back to the curtains. "Hah, if you don't I won't tell you about my family. I'm sure even you don't want to go to a place where you don't know anyone's names for 3 weeks. You could get pranked after all." She stayed there for a few seconds, eager to see if Amanda really wanted to go to her house blind. In the end, Hannah could hear the grumbles of defeat from the other side of the curtain. It was the perfect incentive for Hannah to hurry up putting the clothes she got before in the right places. This runway of suits wasn't something she wanted to miss.

* * *

"This was for the shoulders wasn't it?" Amanda deadpanned, even though she knew the answer. She knew the answer the moment she pulled back the changing room curtains and watched Hannah slap her hand against her mouth to muffle her laughs. In all fairness, she would laugh too, if she wasn't wearing a gaudy suit that is just full of terribly placed purple roses for the blazer, pants and dress shirt.

"Absolutely not," Hannah grinned like the liar she was as she took another photo, the flash made Amanda wince a bit. "This is just me helping you find the right outfit to present yourself with for my mum. Her name is Rosalind England by the way, but she likes to be called Rosa." There was a pause, a sudden switch between atmosphere that Amanda would've missed if she wasn't so intently glaring at the brit. "She's a retired businesswoman," Hannah finally added. "My sister, Isabelle took over the family business so she just spends her days looking after the house and garden."

"Yeah yeah whatever," Amanda scowled as she closed the curtain. She wasn't surprised that Hannah had some business history but she was grateful for the unintended warning. Amanda never liked business people much. "Alright enough of this, I'm getting out of this suit!"

The next suit or ill-placed child's project was worse than the flowers. It was a suit that had just rows of silver sequins behind a beige brown fabric, the colour that belonged to ruined houses or a tree. The pants as well had lines of sequins, all from the hip to the cuffs of the pants. "You will pay for this," she declared to Hannah as she stepped out of the curtains.

"I actually think I might." Hannah snickered as she took another pic from her phone. Amanda really wished she didn't teach her and the rest of the blue team how to use modern stuff. "Alex likes shiny things."

Amanda quirked a brow at Hannah, "Alex?" Was this person one of the pranking cousins she needed to be aware of?

"Alex, short for Alexia which is short for Alexandria," Hannah explained, giggling at Amanda's apparent confusion over the three sets of first names. "Alexandria is her real name but we use Alex since she can't spell Alexandria and has trouble saying, Alexia."

Amanda's eyes widened a bit at the implication. "Oh my god, how old she is?"

"She just turned 4 in March," Hannah grinned as Amanda baulked at her. "You better switch suits O'Neill because my cousin isn't scared of strangers."

Information about the baby because oh my god, Alex was barely a kid, came at the price of two terrible suits. The first one was literally just a suit, stolen from the carpet of a bowling alley, it had shapes, squiggly lines and a horrendous clash of pink triangles against a blue background. The second one was literally made of money, especially English money. Even the idea that there was a queen on her boobs couldn't distract her on how terrible the suit was.

"Alex is very clingy, super clingy actually. If she likes you, you two would be 'best friends' so to speak." Hannah said as she made a bowling action to Amanda as Amanda closed the curtain. "She likes sweets, cuddles, stories and playing games."

"So basically like every other kid huh?" Amanda said as she changed and returned to the scene wearing the terrible British money one. The sight made Hannah howl with laughter, struggling so hard to keep her hand steady to take a photo.

"Yeah," Hannah wheezed as Amanda closed the curtains once more, "Except the rest of my cousins won't harm you with Alex around. Everyone loves her too much, she got everyone including myself wrapped around her little fingers."

At first glance, Amanda thought the next suit won't be bad, or at least that bad. It was green, it had no flashy patterns or terrible designs. It was just green and she liked green. It was only when she stepped out of the changing room and saw how _bright_ it was in the room light, did she realise what suit was inspired from.

"I hate this." She deadpanned, eyes glaring at how bright and jarring her suit was in contrast to the area around her.

"Why?" Hannah asked innocently like she didn't pick it out, to begin with. "It's your team colour!"

Amanda turned her glare at Hannah, ignoring how she just took a picture. "I look like a green screen."

Hannah smirked, "I know and you should be glad, you could finally look as pretty as a sunset, at least if Delilah figured out how to use one for her projects.

Amanda did a back take, did she hear that correctly? "Diana?"

Hannah rolled her eyes. " _Delilah_ , one of my cousins," she corrected before continuing. "She preferred to be called Lily, especially when Diana visits so people won't get confused between the two."

"What is she like?"

Hannah smirked. "That's worth another suit O'Neill."

The information for the mystery that was Hannah's cousin Lily was worth a suit that was very peacock inspired. It was an ensemble of the iconic peacock eyes found of the tail feathers and it was designed in the blazer, pants and tie. Yes there was a tie and yes Amanda and Hannah's views were conflicting yet again, mainly Hannah loved it whilst she hated it.

"Lily is 10 years old, she likes theatre plays and history. Also, watch your words around her, she's very smart." Hannah began as she took a picture and already Amanda could imagine a smaller version of Hannah except surrounded by piles of old books and Shakespeare. Much to her surprise, she found herself finding the mental image cute. "She's really active for a 10-year-old so she will probably attempt to chase you around the house."

"So she's the person I gotta keep an eye out for pranks huh?" Amanda guessed as she shut the curtains and started to change from one bad suit to the next.

"Oh no that's Alice."

Alice turned out to the oldest cousin Hannah had in the family (This information was worth a suit that so triangular and colourful in design like it was a Picasso painting). She was 12 years old and liked making people confused and have fun, at least she did before. Now she was just a regular girl who, in Amanda's opinion was a bit too uptight. She described her to be hardworking, direct and withdrawn. It reminded Amanda of Diana and when she mentioned it to Hannah, it struck her how similar they really were.

"I'll give this to you as a freebie," Hannah said, her hands fumbled against each other. Amanda paused closing the curtain to the horrible, Picasso like suit as she looked at Hannah expectantly. "My cousins from my mum's sides are orphans," Hannah admitted, her voice was even but the expression on her face proved how much it hurt to admit it out loud. A cold chill turned Amanda's inside hollow. "My aunt and uncle died overseas 2 years back, which is why me and my cousins live in the same place. So don't mention them around the house, especially around Alice."

Amanda nodded gravely, purposely ignoring the itch to say something. Like a question or a generic " _I'm sorry for your loss_ " or maybe, just maybe a personal one that went. " _I know what losing someone is like if you want to talk about it."_ But she knew the look of a person who was tired of questions or after-death pleasantries and closed the curtain. Besides, the distraught, longing yet tired look Hannah had was nothing like Amanda seen before and it made her uncomfortable looking at it. For a girl so feisty, a face as heartbreaking as that didn't suit her and that meant she had to do something to fix it.

* * *

For the first time since Amanda started this terrible suits montage, Amanda opened the curtains with a smile, granted it was a forced considering the suit she wore but a smile all the same. "Hey, Hannah what do you think of my new suit?" The smile faltered slightly when she saw Hannah, still looking a bit tired and sad, she wasn't even looking her way.

"Amanda," she sighed, voice sounding dull. "You don't need to wear the stupid suits anymore."

"Fair enough but this isn't stupid," Amanda laughed, causing Hannah to look up at her. Just like that, the stupid frown on Hannah's face turned upside down. Actually, it just became a wide mouth smile from astonishment. "But as an American, I am offended you put in the pile of suits for me to wear." Amanda was wearing a suit made of the union jack flags, there were thousands of them sewn into every part of a 3 piece suit.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you would wear it!" Hannah reasoned as she took out her phone and took photos, unlike the other times Amanda made stupid poses for it. "You look terrible!"

"Well that's what happens when you're a property of England," Amanda joked as she did finger guns towards Hannah and winked.

"By Woodward's name," Hannah giggled as she did a facepalm, her brain was too busy laughing to think about blushing."Amanda that's the British flag, you idiot."

"Flag names don't matter when you hate the suit design," Amanda countered with one final pose before Hannah, still laughing, pushed her towards the changing room and closed the curtain.

"Then get out of it idiot," Hannah giggled, "And don't wear any more trashy suits Amanda we need to get going."

Hiding behind the curtains, Amanda let out a silent sigh of relief, she really hated those suits especially the one she was wearing right now. For the hell of it though, Amanda looked what would be next after this country betraying suit and laughed at the tackiness of it all. "But what about this Hawaiian shirt inspired suit?" She asked as she overlooked the dark fabric with tropical flowers and pineapple prints.

"Amanda no!"

To her surprise, Amanda started to laugh louder. "But it has shorts!" Amanda insisted, not even believing the words that came out of her mouth as she started to undress. "Hannah this suit has shorts!"

"Then buy it on your own time!" Amanda shook her head, just when she started to have fun, it all had to end, typical England. "Oh yeah, give me the first suit you wore," Hannah added quickly just as Amanda was about to unbutton her dress shirt. "The one you wore before you wore all the terrible ones."

"Geez," Amanda said, rolling her eyes as gathered said suit with a snicker. "Glad to know I look hot in a suit you didn't see me in."

"You know what? Give me the one you just wore, the British one. Being patriotic to the country is a very good first-."

Amanda opened the curtain, ego growing at how quickly Hannah shut up and how flustered she looked. Which made sense, to be honest, what kind of girl wouldn't be flustered at her wearing a white dress shirt, top buttons open with her hair messy from the number of suits she worn.

"Y'know red looks on good on you," she teased as she handed Hannah the red suit she wore in the very beginning before closing the curtain again and waited.

Three. Two. One….

"AMANDA O'NEILL!" Amanda chuckled lightly at Hannah's shout, a small smile still on her face as she continued to change back to her flannel and jeans. The girl Amanda knew was back and it looked like things were back to normal.

* * *

A couple minutes later, one blushing country and a smirking American left Madame Rita's tailor shop with a couple of bags in the American's hands. "I can't believe you did that," Hannah muttered as she refused to look at Amanda, still unable to get the look out of her head.

Amanda grinned as she looked ahead of them. "You told me to get it in my own time, so I bought the suit," Hannah grumbled next to her as she texted her chauffeur on her phone. She knew that Amanda knew that was talking about the half-dressed stunt she did when she gave Hannah the suit and it irritated her to hell. Though the reminder that she bought the pathetic and tacky Hawaiian suit with shorts was an easy distraction.

"So…" Amanda started next to her, Hannah barely gave her a glance as she focused more on the conversation in her hands, turns out their ride was nearby. "I noticed we didn't even go through half of the shitty suits, do you plan to tell me about the rest of the family a later time or what?"

"My chauffeur is here," Hannah answered instead as she looked up and tried to look for a dark blue car with the England Family insignia, which was in her opinion a bit outdated.

"You have a chauffeur?" Amanda asked near her and Hannah had to roll her eyes at her idiocy.

"Of course I have a chauffeur," she answered as she spotted said car and flagged it down. "What kind of noble person would I be if I didn't?"

Amanda huffed, "Alright M'lady, sorry for asking a silly question."

Hannah sighed, ignoring the pulse of warmth that radiated under her cheeks, she really hated that nickname. She hated it even more when she could hear Amanda snicker next to her. "Come on Amanda, put your stuff in the boot," Hannah said as she walked over to the back of their now parked car. She knew the driver, despite being paid, won't do it for them.

"The what?"

Hannah turned back to Amanda, mirroring her confused look before a realisation dawned on her. "Ohhh right, you're American, you use the 'simple' English."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

Ignoring Amanda's growing rage, Hannah opened up the boot and placed her own bags inside. "Not an insult mind you, I just remembered that you use the English that forgets about your Us and calls a sport about carrying a rugby ball, football." Hannah allowed herself to pause and exhale the small minor rage at the reminder and to remind herself to not be pulled into a debate about American football with Amanda or else she would lose it. "Not to mention you call things different terms, like a car's boot is a-"

"Trunk?" Amanda answered instead after placing her bags inside the boot and closed it with a thud. "Please tell me you're not expecting me to be all British in your place?"

Hannah shrugged as she got in the back seat of the car and strapped herself in. Amanda followed her in the backseat but on the other side of the car. "I don't expect it but if you call crisps chips," Hannah looked Amanda in the eye, voice as serious as deadly as it could be. "I won't save you if the rest of my cousins overhear and plan to kill you."

Amanda nodded vigorously, face paling a bit as Hannah turned to the driver. "England Estate, please? And avoid the Lanhydrock Estate if you can." The fae goblin nodded and responded back in a language Hannah couldn't hear as Amanda shoved her face to her proximity, distracting her.

"Holy hell how is your driver a goblin?" Amanda asked, eyes wide with shock before it narrowed questioningly. "Also why are we avoiding the Lanhydrock Estate and how do you spell that name?"

"Personal space please Amanda!" Hannah shrieked as she shoved Amanda to the other side of the car before turning around to stare at the scenery for a much-needed distraction. Terrible thoughts and emotions enhanced the ache in her stomach as memories of what she lost flashed in her head.

Instinctually, she folded her arms and tucked them against her stomach with a sigh. "The driver used to work for my aunt and uncle." Hannah conceded, knowing that not answering would mean something. "They were active historians who tried their best to save what lost magical artefacts were left in the world since magic is- well was going to die." Hannah glanced at Amanda for her reaction before looking away. The serious, somewhat awkward yet understanding look on her face wasn't at all what Hannah expected and it made her feel awkward if she stared at it longer. "Before their death, they acquired a lot of spellstones which they used as wages for fae workers as well as them using our philosopher's stone."

As expected, her dead relatives killed the mood, just leaving behind the awful, awkward bitter taste. Hannah hated it, she hated how the mood before died, how easy it was to forget that she was happy and laughing just minutes ago. But this mood was better than explaining her deal with Lanhydrock and the stupid, shitty, tourist house.

"Hey uhh… what is the Lan...hydrock? Place? Did I say that correctly?"

Hannah sighed, ignoring how her mind screamed at Amanda as she tried her best to reign in her anger. It wasn't Amanda's fault, she knew this fact even if her brain had trouble remembering. She was just curious, they were always curious about the estate, even before it became a tourist trap and the government changed the name. Besides, Hannah was trying to be a better person, directing her hatred for one thing to an unrelated and often innocent person wasn't part of her being a better person.

"No you didn't say it correctly," Hannah managed to force out. "The estate is nothing but a tourist trap. It was an old witch manor before the witch had to sell it to the government for easy money. It's a sham to the witch community and nothing worth your time."

"Heh," Amanda grinned, Hannah didn't turn around to see said grin but she could hear it in her voice. It was the kind that provoked challenge like it was a dare. "We'll see about that."

"Don't." Her voice sounded chilling, harsh and deadly. Hannah allowed herself to be pleased that it didn't become a vicious cutting snap, but that minuscule amount of pride died when she next opened her mouth. Her words became passionate, personal and reckless of what it could imply to Amanda if she used her only 2 brain cells to think about it. "Don't do anything to the place, don't even enter the place- And I swear to all the nine witches if you even _think_ of stealing something from there I will make sure you don't return to Luna Nova by the time break is over."

Silence. A cold, empty silence. Just the right atmosphere for Hannah to glare at the window and refuse to even look at the barely visible reflection of Amanda. Curses and foul words scream at her, all the anger and hatred she didn't express to Amanda got redirected to herself, to her emotions and thoughts, tainting what happy memories of the already tainted estate she had. She was one step away from spiralling down an unnecessary rabbit hole of bad memories and thinking if it weren't for one idiotic redhead who thought it was smart enough to speak.

"Is there… anything else that I shouldn't ask or talk about?"

If Hannah's fist didn't curl and tighten at the question, Hannah would be surprised at how respectful, cautious and genuine Amanda sounded. Instead, she just shifted in her seat, glared at the outside world and used the presence of Amanda as an anchor or a reason to calm down. To remind herself that it wasn't the time to go down memory lane, to remind herself that she wasn't alone and that Amanda of all people was with her. So for that reason and that reason alone, Hannah answered the question with a response she normally would never bring out and sighed all of her frustration as an answer.

"Don't talk or ask about my father."

* * *

 **A/N- If you check Tumblr there should be a set of photos to show what suits Amanda is wearing lmao, well except the first good one lol. It's worldsinword on tumblr btw, just search Hamanda and it'll appear somewhere lmao. Also, I can finally show off my England cousins, or parts of them at least. You meet them properly next chapter~**

 **Fun fact: The names of these places do exist irl, (I actually went through kirkwhelpington on my travels to Scotland) though they are described differently.**


	5. Chapter 5

After the whole talk/warning thing, Amanda found the whole atmosphere weird. Which was fair in her opinion, like how the hell are you suppose to deal with a comment like 'don't talk or ask anything my father?' Obviously, there was the shitty way of asking a question about Hannah's dad straight after she said that but that was just a quick easy way to get booted out the car and be forced to walk to wherever the hell the estate was.

Anyways ignoring the shitty option, what the fuck should she say or do to diffuse the tension? Joke about shit? Be reckless and mention that she won't say or ask shit as long as Hannah won't ask her about her pathetic excuse of a parent? Hah. What a joke. That topic is a whole mess in its own right. 'Oh hey there England, we finally got something in common! We got shitty 'dads' who we both hate! We can bond over that and be best friends forever!'

Amanda sighed in her seat, eyes drawn to the window reflection and wincing inside at how Hannah froze a bit at the sound. It was probably the most subtle of movement Amanda has ever seen from her, she probably didn't even noticed if she wasn't watching her in the reflection. Not in a weird way, she was just better to look at than the English countryside. Yeah, sure the occasional fields were pretty when they come but literally, for every five seconds of countryside aesthetic, there were 10 minutes of just fucking hedges. And hedges get boring really quickly.

"So…" Amanda said after deciding that somehow potentially ruining her friendship with Hannah was better than boredom. "How long is the ride?" That was a safe answer, right? She didn't invoke some tragic past about car journeys, right? Her luck isn't that bad like Akko's right?

"From Bodmin to the estate it's around 40 minutes of travel taking the long route. An hour if we got traffic." The fae goblin in the front answered. "So far we got around 15 minutes left."

Amanda's eyes widened a fraction. "Oh my god, you know how to talk?"

There was a gruff response that sounded like a bit of a chuckle as Amanda caught the driver staring at her in the rearview mirror. "I've been talking long before you were born kid." Amanda let out a surprised grin as she watched the driver stare back towards the road. "Also you look dumb so I'll give you a reminder about fae workers."

Amanda was about to protest, the usual instinctual backlash rearing inside her throat was ready to snap if she wasn't so caught off by the chuckle to the left of her. It was sudden, hushed and it made Amanda happy knowing that Hannah wasn't brooding over people or things that probably weren't worth her time. Amanda barely glanced at Hannah before she focused back to the front to try and listen to what she probably should've known in class.

"Fae workers like me can live longer than you witches as long as we got either access to a philosopher's sphere or some spell stones and you know, don't get killed." This time Amanda heard a louder chuckle from Hannah and she didn't dare fight back the grin it caused on her face. "Most of us know human talk but a lot of us can't speak it unless we study it, which I did by the way back in the 20th century so that I can get better pay, like this job."

"How old are you?" Amanda couldn't stop herself asking, it was probably rude but damn it, this stuff was kinda cool.

"Heh," the goblin grinned as their eyes met again in the rearview mirror before the goblin turned back to the road. "Y'know what kid, take a gander and guess."

Amanda quirked an eyebrow at the mirror. "Ya sure? You won't be mad if I'm like I don't know, a hundred years off or something?"

"Nah, it's all fun, besides it's not like you would get it right."

Amanda imagined her eyes were gleaming as she sat up straighter in her seat, grin ready to be smug, especially at the prospect of winning a challenge and proving people wrong. "Alright," she said, voice confident as ever as she stared at the driver through the mirror. Her green eyes studied the creature, her eyes slightly narrowed with concentration as a number tumbled into her gut and stayed there. "229."

There was a surprised huff from the driver, laughter slipping through words as their eyes glanced up and met Amanda's. "That's a specific number there mate, are you sure you don't wanna have a broader guess?"

Amanda shook her head, the confident grin became a smirk as she laid back against the seat with an ease that radiated victory. "It's what my gut tells me."

"Well get your gut a prize cause you were right!" The goblin cheered with a hearty laugh. Amanda raised her hands in the air, smug victory oozing from her posture as Hannah rolled her eyes and clapped slowly towards her for her small achievement. Amanda dared to make an overtop gesture of a bow and was rewarded with a disbelieving but happy shake of Hannah's head.

"I have to hand it to you kid, that was pretty impressive," the goblin admitted as they turned the car around a bend. "I only know one other witch who could guess a goblin's age properly." Amanda stopped her grand gestures and looked at goblin expectedly, a brow quirked in a silent, curious _Oh?_ "Well, I don't really know her, I haven't even met her," they said, backtracking as Amanda caught both her and Hannah looking at the driver.

"But I do have a cousin up Ireland who met her years ago." And with that small sentence, a little clock ticked in Amanda's head and it continued ticking as she listened, words coming through one ear and out the next. Without anyone else realising, Amanda's amused grin dimmed and the quirked brow lowered to a lost state. "She was a crazy smart witch, got him to bet money that she could guess his age and 5 other goblins correct in one go and she won."

There was a laugh in the car, probably from the fae goblin. Yet for Amanda, it sounded distant and merged with another, one that sounded eerily like a ghost. "And when I mean won, I mean _won_." Astounded laughter followed their comment but none of them came from Amanda who sat there and just grinned instinctively to the sound, the smile not reaching her vacant eyes. "She got thousands of pounds before suddenly disappearing off the face of the earth! Thought the whole thing was a hoax till you proved me, wrong miss, though I'm glad you didn't cheat me off of my money."

"Warn your friends though," Hannah said next to Amanda, jolting Amanda out of her trance as Hannah nudged her, voice teasing but full of laugh. Amanda laughed back, it's sound looking cheerful enough to pass as she turned her head to the window, green eyes finding relief that Hannah's reflection wasn't looking at her or that it didn't seem to suspect a thing. "I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to pull the stunt now, now that you got the idea into her head."

"I hear you, Miss England." The goblin chuckled but Amanda didn't pay attention. No, her eyes were focused on the red-bricked walls, how black spikes pierced the top of the bricks and pointed at the sky. Her mouth hung open as the air shifted to something more grand, more regal. In the distance, she spotted a manor three floors tall, not including it's fenced roof, balcony railings, rectangular windows and the familiar glow of a philosopher stone tucked behind a bell-shaped alcove on the roof.

"But first, let me just proudly say that we have the reached the England Estate."

* * *

Big.

That's the first thing Amanda thought as she walked next to Hannah, soaking in everything around her. She didn't bother hiding her amazement, she knew that if she did Hannah would tease her about it. Everything was just big. For example, the iconic rich people fountain in the middle of the driveway was massive. The pillars to uphold the roof of the entrance of the house? Gigantic. The arched wooden double door with the twin lion head knockers? Huge. Also what kind of house has three floors, then has another small house attached to it. Surely one house was enough right?

"Holy shit," Amanda whispered as she gawked at the design of the massive door in front of her. "Hannah, what the hell? This place is massive!" It was 100% bigger from her old homes, maybe even bigger than her douche of a dad's mansion. She wouldn't lie to herself, there was an old itch to explore just like she did at her old homes near the Irish forests and Texan abandoned farms but she had a feeling that Hannah's family wouldn't appreciate her snooping around the place for secrets.

Next to her, casting Amanda out of her thoughts yet again, Hannah laughed. A smirk adorned her smug face as she flicked out her wand and cast a spell over the door. In front of them, the lion head knockers came to life, their jaws yawned open and the loop holding the door knocker between their teeth rattled. "If you think this is big you should see the inside," Hannah grinned as she nudged Amanda. "Now run your finger underneath their teeth."

Amanda blinked. "What?"

Hannah sighed as she turned to her. "Look, you're staying here for three weeks so you need to be able to open the door without my help. By running your finger under the lion's teeth, you become registered as friendly and you get the handle and you won't set off the alarm."

Amanda stared at her like she grew another head. "What the hell?"

Hannah scoffed, crossing her arms as she looked to the side. "And here I thought you find this interesting."

"I mean I do," Amanda admitted as she begrudgingly ran her fingers underneath a lion's teeth. The pain was prickly at best and was like an injection at worst but when she removed her hand there was no blood or markings. "But at the same time, how in the world did your family manage to have this?" At once both lion heads shut and the knocker loop shook as next to the knockers sprouted two lion tails that curved into wooden handles, then all at once, the door became still once more.

Amanda stared at the action, bafflement in her eyes as she turned to the sound of Hannah smirking. "My aunt studied then copied the same traps and charms she and her husband bested before. She then implemented them into the house design and security." She grabbed hold of the handles and pushed, opening Amanda to the inside of her home. "Fun fact, if you didn't have someone be acknowledged by the lion's gate there wouldn't be allowed to enter unless you knocked and was let in from the inside. Try to force yourself in three times and the lions will roar for an intruder."

With that they entered the England Estate and Amanda could not help but whistle in appreciation. Hannah was right, It was big as it looked from the outside. In front of her were two sets of wooden stairs, decorated with beautifully carved bannisters that ascended to the second floor. Between the two stairs was another arched door and as Amanda looked around she could spot the same design on the left and right of her.

" **Now introducing a Lady of the House, Lady Hannah Rose England!"**

Amanda jumped to the air, her actions causing both an embarrassed flush to her face as Hannah laughed next to her. Amanda quickly shot her a glare before she turned around, her embarrassment and anger disappearing as she saw a giant lion head, carved in the same oak as the door behind her rest on the archway. It shook their head slowly, eyes squinting like it was processing something before it opened its giant wooden maw and roared.

" **And her guest, Mistress Amanda Caoimhe O'Neill!"**

Amanda's eyes bulged at the use of her middle name as she stared at the lionhead shaking its mane, closing its jaw and became a decorative headpiece. Amanda's eyes narrowed in a mixture of anger and confusion, more of the latter than former. "That's how the door roars for intruders by the way," Hannah added next to her after seeing Amanda's puzzled stare. "It doesn't always say your full name when you enter, by the way, I added the announcement so that my cousins knew I was at home."

"How does it know?" Amanda whispered, still frazzled, still trying her best to undo the unease in her stomach in a name she has long tried to forget, still trying to resolve the guilt of attempting to forget and ignore her middle name.

Hannah shrugged as she headed over to a small room near the left double doors, Amanda followed her, ready to find an answer or ready to forget what happened. "Magic I guess? My aunt never explained it." It wasn't an answer Amanda wanted so she forced herself to move on with an on the edge exhale, the past was in the past after all. She didn't need to waste time now remembering it.

"This is the cloakroom by the way," Hannah continued as she opened the closet door and flicked on the light, she didn't notice the turbulence of emotions that Amanda was going through and for that Amanda was glad. "Usually a fae would be here but I suspect they are on their break now." Hannah entered and dropped her bags near a coat rack, motioning to Amanda to do the same. "The fae would bring your stuff to your room later."

"So," Amanda began as they left the cloakroom, turning to Hannah with a smirk and a wink as she fell back to easy methods of distractions to help her move on. "Rose eh? Pretty cute middle name." Instead of blushing like Amanda intended it to happen, Hannah took the compliment with an easy smile but that wasn't a problem for Amanda. She would definitely make Hannah regret her finding out about her middle name with the number of rose jokes and teasing she could make.

Hannah flicked her ponytail proudly as she looked around the entrance. "My mum chose it for me, it was an abbreviation of her name."

"Rosalind right?" Amanda asked, half guessing, half remembering.

Hannah looked at her with a slightly surprised but mostly glad smile. "You remembered."

Amanda nodded with a bit of a laugh as she eased into the easy calm atmosphere between them. "Anyone would remember if they had to wear your middle name as a suit," she joked, remembering the gaudy purple roses suit she was forced to wear.

Hannah groaned into her hand as if she could foresee the number of jokes in her future about her middle name. "This is going to be the start of many jokes, isn't it?"

"Oh absolutely."

Before anyone else could say anything else, the door near them flung open and a small girl sporting a hazel brown pixie cut hair with blond streaks appeared. Amanda stared at her, confused by her bright blue eyes that went wide as they moved from Amanda to Hannah. In turn, Amanda turned around to Hannah, surprised at how quick her face shifted from annoyance to overwhelming warmth.

"HANNAH!" The little girl screamed as she charged at Hannah with open arms, almost knocking her to the ground upon collision.

"Hey there Lily," Hannah cooed, ruffling Lily's hair affectionately as the girl beamed at her with light giggles. "How is it going?" With that, a simple but loving conversation happened between the two cousins and it was one that Amanda didn't overhear. Not because of privacy, but because Amanda was so shocked that her full attention just focused on Hannah and Hannah alone. There was so much... _gentleness_ to her voice that Amanda didn't know what to do with it. She never knew nor seen the past bully act or sound so gentle towards a person before.

Another round of steps jerked Amanda away from her absent-minded stare, head snapping to the door. Instead of the sudden, spontaneous sound of a door slamming that caught Amanda's attention it was the echoes of walking. It was controlled, steady and even. It sounded similar to the footsteps Amanda memorised of passing prefect patrols but only in a brief listen. As Amanda heard it more, she noticed the lapses of imperfections and differences. It sounded much like a child playing pretend.

"I told you that Hannah was still in the foyer!" Lily called behind her, her round face becoming more playful as she stuck her tongue out.

"No, _I_ told you that she could be in the foyer before you charged ahead like an angry gryphon." Another voice of a girl responded as she appeared at the door entrance. If Hannah's first cousin, Lily, was as tall as Hannah's chest, this one came around her shoulder. Her hair was a dark brown shade like oak and reached just below her shoulders in wavy curls and her eyes shone with a honey glow, like a cat.

"Well, at least gryphons are cool!" Lily called out with a frown before it became a grin, the kind that meant that she knew something. "You're just jealous because I got to Hannah first aren't you Alice?"

Alice's cheeks tinted pink and Amanda settled with a knowing grin instead of downright snickering at the obvious call out. "I-what! No! I don't care about that!" She obviously denied with a small fluster. The sight reminded Amanda all too much of when Hannah tried to lie but had too much pink on her cheeks for Amanda to believe her, which meant that this little stunt was hilarious. It was interesting to know that Hannah's tsundere traits, as Akko liked to call them, was genetic.

"Oh?" Hannah smirked and Amanda grinned at her. She knew that smirk, she saw it directed at herself sometimes when Hannah wanted to be a tease and joke around. "So you didn't want to meet me after so long?" Amanda watched as Hannah gently pulled Lily away from her waist and walked to Alice who continued to stand there with conflicted emotions.

"No- I…"

Hannah chuckled as she brought Alice to a close, tight hug. Amanda's grin softened as she saw how Hannah's arms curled around Alice's body and how she rested her chin gently above Alice's head. "I missed you too, Alice," she murmured, voice teeming with protective family love. Alice's body shifted, the tension in her shoulders easing into Hannah as she relaxed in everywhere but her hands. Her hands clung to Hannah, gripping her back like a teddy bear she doesn't want to let go. It's only then did Amanda turn around, to give the moment privacy it deserved.

Only to find herself face to face with the third and final cousin Hannah told her about.

Alexandria or Alexia or Alex... England? Oh my god, Amanda forgot about asking Hannah what her cousin's surname was, Hannah only gave her first names. Anyways! Alex was far cuter than Amanda expected, she was also a lot taller than she expected as her auburn braided hair was just under Amanda's knee. Her baby face cheeks were painted with a giddy rose hue, her blue and brown mixed eyes gleamed with excited innocence as she giggled at her as she reached her tiny hands at her.

"Sup kiddo," Amanda said in an almost forced nonchalant tone after she cleared her throat from panicked nerves. Past her would laugh at how nervous she was about a baby but god damn it, Amanda knew that shit would go down if she made her cry, especially cause this was their first meeting. This girl was a trapped piece of treasure. Make enough mistakes and people would be pissed off and she would be running around the place like a giant boulder was following from her.

Alex laughed at her, pointing at her hair with a delighted smile. "Your hair is pink!" Amanda nodded, so far so good unless she counted the stares she felt penetrating her back but she wasn't one to focus on the bad side of stuff. "It's also orange! That's weird."

"It is," Amanda nodded, an unknowing smile on her face at the blunt opinion. "Do you want to touch it?"

The little girl gasped, eyes almost becoming the size of dinner plates from awe. "Can I?" Amanda couldn't help but chuckle as she crouched down, even going as far as lowering her head so that Alex could get a better reach.

Now this close to her face, Amanda could see the light dusting of freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose when she looked up. She could see the small similarities between her and Hannah that proved that they were related like how they both scrunched up their eyebrows when they focused. It was kinda cute, for Alex only obviously.

Alex leaned in, her hands now brushing against Amanda's scalp with an awed gasp. "Your hair is soft! Also, it's spikey! So weird…"

The small tickling sensation from her hair made Amanda laugh, the smile on her face growing more and more as she tilted her head up to look at Alex who was giving her the most adorable smile ever, melting Amanda's heart in an instant KO. "Yeah, I get that a lot about my hair, Alex."

As if Amanda broke a spell, the little girl stopped messing around with her hair and took a step back at the sound of her name. Her arms brushed against each other as she teetered back and forth on the balls of her feet, hands clasped in curiosity and caution. "Ummm, I don't know you." Then in a flash, the fear vanished and Alex reached her hand out at Amanda with a smile. "What's your name?"

Amanda blinked her mind in a whiplash from being panic that she did something wrong to sudden relief to being taken aback by her lack of Alex's fear. Hannah was right, her cousin was not afraid of strangers. Clearing her throat Amanda took Alex's hand and shook it once before letting go. "My name is Amanda."

"Amanta."

The slight mispronunciation made Amanda's smile grow as a flicker of laughter left her lips. "Amanda," She repeated, going slower this time with her pronunciation.

Alex scrunched up her nose, her small eyebrows knitted in concentration once again. "A-mant-da."

Oh my god, she was precious. She was so precious and adorable that Amanda didn't have the heart to correct her again. "Y'know what?" she laughed as she stood up. "That name works too." Also because she couldn't help it, Amanda ruffled Alex's head causing the girl to giggle as she ran excitedly around Amanda and right to Lily's arms.

Now that she turned around, Amanda finally figured out where the death like stare was coming from, still under Hannah's embrace was the off-putting glare of Alice. "Amanda right? How did you get here? I don't recall inviting creepy chavs like you around."

At first, Amanda was confused at the term 'chav' before quickly realising that whatever the hell it was it was probably an insult. Which made her even more annoyed because she didn't know what the hell it meant! Amanda's mouth opened from affronted surprise before it closed to a smirk that just covered her temper. She didn't mind kids most times but god damn it, she hated rich brats like Alice.

Instead of snapping straight away, Amanda let out a quiet sigh as she folded her arms against her chest and deliberately avoided Hannah's gaze that probably would've reminded her to shut up. "Of course you didn't invite me, kid," Amanda admitted as she fell back to her more comfortable laid back talk, enjoying how pissed off Alice looked when she called her a kid. Amanda stuck her chin out towards Hannah with a proud grin. "Your cousin did, I'm her date to the wedding."

Immediately, Amanda watched as both Lily and Alice snapped their heads at Hannah, their faces a complete polar opposite. Alice had a look of shock and aghast whilst Lily's questioning frown broke to a wide grin with sparkles in her eyes.

"Her!?"

"DATE!?"

The sheer contrast of Alice's shocked voice against Lily's happy shrill made Amanda choke back on a laugh. All eyes turned back on her and Amanda's grin grew at the pinkish hue on Hannah's cheeks and the glare in her eyes. "Yep," Amanda confirmed with an obvious, over the top wink to Hannah, just to tease her a bit more. "I'm her friend from school."

"Best friens!" Alex cheered after her words. The child jumped around excitedly, an ecstatic smile on her face as she pointed her hand at both of them, constantly switching targets. "You two are best friens!"

Hannah's face went 2 shades darker as she removed herself from Alice's hug and coughed into her fist. "Umm, yes, yes- friends. Ahem-" Quickly Hannah cleared her throat and gave herself a moment to collect herself, near her Amanda could hear the giddy giggles from Lily. "Yes," Hannah began as she looked at everyone in the room. "Me and Amanda are friends, yes she is my date to the wedding and no-" This time Hannah's eyes focused on both Lily and Alice, eyes serious. "You two are not allowed to freak her out with traps okay?"

Lily laughed as she gave Hannah a casual two finger salute. "I make no promises."

Alice, in turn, took a deep breath but smiled thinly at Hannah before casting a quick glance at Amanda, "I… will not do any traps today." Looking above Alice's intense glare, Amanda watched Hannah's face fall back in relief and somehow found herself doing the same, just a bit. Though she would never admit it to Hannah that she was, for a moment only, scared of her cousins. Hannah would never let it die.

"Anyways," Alice said as she turned around and walked right, further into the entrance of the house whilst grabbing Lily by the arm and forcing her on this journey. "I'm going to be asking the cooks to make some sandwiches."

"Then why I am coming?" Lily complained as she tried to shift her way out of Alice's grip. "I want to talk to Hannah's date!"

For a girl who was tried to act so controlled with her happy feelings before, Alice did not seem to master the art of hiding her more negative ones. Amanda watched as Alice bristled at the term 'Hannah's date', like a sibling who thought a single look between two people was too much PDA. "The faes like you so you're coming with me," she reasoned.

"But they like you too!" Lily protested as she managed to get out before Alice caught their wrist again.

"You are allowed to take a rock from my collection." Amanda raised a subtle brow at the kids, there was no way a single rock would be enough to convince someone to stay being dragged away.

Yet apparently, to some, it was enough. Lily sighed, the sound of tiredness not quite matching the exciting thrill in her eyes and the impish grin on her face. "Deal," she laughed as she allowed Alice to drag her away again into the other double sided doors.

Their other sister, Alex looked torn between her sisters and them but quickly she made her mind up. "Bye Bye Best friens!" Alex gave them a small wave and a giggle before quickly running after her sisters who now entered the room. "Wait for me guys!"

With the thud of the other door closing, Hannah and Amanda were left in silence, one seemingly awkward silence. "Well," Amanda started with a cough to wake both of them, she avoided Hannah's gazed and peered around the foyer? As they called it, she didn't know that there was a fancy name for something as simple as the main entrance. "That was something."

"That was terrible," Hannah groaned as she brought a hand to her face and massaged the bridge of her nose. "Nines that was so bad."

Amanda gave Hannah a shrug as she thought back to their first interactions. Alex liked her, Lily didn't talk to her and Alice glared at her and called her a name, a positive, a neutral and a negative. So far so good in her opinion. "I think it went alright."

"Alice glared at you!" Hannah pointed out as she looked up at Amanda with exasperation in her voice. "She also called you a chav Amanda. A chav." Hannah stressed, somehow completely forgetting that Amanda was American and thus didn't understand the term at all. "That's a very bad first impression, Amanda"

Amanda shrugged, "Hey I don't even know what a chav is so as long as it's not homophobic or something like that then I don't care." Hannah groaned at herself, placing both hands on her face as she looked at the floor with mumbles Amanda couldn't hear.

With an exaggerated sigh, Amanda placed around Hannah's shoulder, completely surprised at how complacent Hannah was to allow this sort of thing to happen. "I don't get why you're so worried Rosie, everything will be fine." Amanda then looked down at Hannah and studied her, slightly put off that she managed to say a nickname without an instant rebuttal or blush. Was she really that upset that Alice insulted her with something? ...Nah, there got to be a better reason.

"Ahh," Amanda said as she finally registered a decent enough reason why Hannah was acting upset and sullen over nothing. "You're worried cause you're hungry."

Somehow that was enough to wake Hannah from her train of thoughts as she looked up at Amanda. "I'm worried because of what?"

"Hunger," Amanda nodded sagely as she began to drag Hannah, still an arm over her shoulder, to where she last saw the kids head off to. "Hunger and thirst can cause a lot of things, that's why Jasminka is bloody calm most of the time. She eats a lot."

"Yeah but I'm not hungry," Hannah said before she pushed Amanda off her shoulder. "And get off me." Before Amanda could frown and tell insist that she was hungry, Hannah's stomach growled loudly.

"Oh yeah," Amanda snickered as Hannah's cheeks became coloured with an embarrassing shade of pink. "You are totally not hungry at all Rosie."

"Shut up!" Hannah snapped. Amanda couldn't help herself as she chuckled loudly whilst Hannah grabbed Amanda's wrist and dragged her to a different way to the kitchen that wasn't through the double doors and instead to a corridor behind the right stairwell. "And don't call me that!" Once again Amanda laughed, happy that Hannah was back to normal as she allowed herself to be dragged along.

...

Unknowingly to the two of them, three pairs of eyes watched them and their interactions from several portraits on the walls near the door the kids went through. "Do you think they saw us?" Blue eyes of a portrait asked, eyes looking at an angry honey coloured eyes. "Also they are 100% dating and you can't change my mind."

"They're not dating," Replied the honey eyes with a stern absolution in her words.

"But Alice," Lily pleaded, "Hannah got called a nickname and she told us not to do traps against her! If that isn't love then I don't know what is!" Alice rolled her eyes at the comment, too busy cringing at the concept of her older cousin being in love with an American idiot to comment on Lily's stupidity. "They also held hands… at least I think they did."

"They didn't kiss," Alice finally spat out.

"Maybe they're secretly dating and they saw us and stopped being mushy together."

"No kiss, no date."

"But-"

"What's dating?" Both eyes looked at each other, then looked at the source of the sound, towards a portrait that included a picture of a puppy who now had Alex 's blue and brown eyes. "Also what are we doing?"

With that, the blue eyes bolted from the portrait where it magically became a brown colour as it was intended to be. "Last one to get to the kitchens has to explain it to her!"

"Wait- Deliah!" Now honey eyes left another portrait and the eyes became a solid green in the painting. "Come back here you-"

Now heterochromatic puppy eyes were replaced with actual puppy eyes. "Hey wait for me Aliss!"

* * *

Hannah was an idiot. Nines she was an idiot and she constantly repeated that in her own head along with other more colourful but deserved words. And these words were deserved, after all, she had the pure stupidity to think that Amanda didn't view her as a friend! Sure one could reason that her insecurities blindsided her but that didn't explain the common sense Hannah should've had! After all, what kind of person joins a personal formal event if they weren't friends!?

 _IDIOT!_

Shame burnt pink hues into her cheeks as she marched into the kitchen and pulled Amanda in. As she expected it was empty, the faes were still on a break which meant they had to look around for any snacks or make their own food. "Here is the kitchen," she sighed as she walked around the marble countertop island in the middle and went to the wooden cabinet to get some cups. "I'll get us some water if you can find snacks, you have expertise in kitchen theft after all." The attempted joke fell flat, irritating Hannah she turned around before she blinked surprised at how stupidly shock Amanda was. The sight was just enough for Hannah to stop her harsh self-critic if only to laugh at Amanda, the sound waking Amanda from her trance.

"In my defence, your kitchen looks expensive," Amanda said prompting Hannah to snort and look around. The place was fairly average, nothing major. Sure it had black marble countertops, an island in the middle and a couple state of the art kitchenware but it wasn't that expensive. She does suppose for people who had less money, this would be considered 'expensive'.

"It's not that expensive," Hannah grumbled to herself as she poured them drinks. In her honest opinion, Hannah thought the place was kinda small but she knew if she voiced that she would sound snobbish as hell.

"Not that expensive!" Amanda exclaimed in her fake overdone tone as she went closer to the fridges, "You have two freezers and a fridge!"

"One of them was for my aunt's work actually," Hannah quickly pointed out as she watched Amanda open them, a smile now on her face at Amanda's surprised expression as she quickly shut one of them. "Some artefacts needed to be tested below zero degrees."

"Whatever," Amanda grumbled as she closed the other freezer and walked towards Hannah. "Hold this for a sec England," she said as she shoved something into Hannah's hand. Hannah deadpanned at Amanda as she looked at the England Flag fridge magnet in her hand and rose it her eye level. Not surprisingly, the simple action made Amanda grin mischievously and snicker.

"Why are you laughing Amanda?" Hannah asked with an eye roll.

"Because," Amanda grinned. "Hannah _Rose_ England."

Hannah looked at the magnet in her hand, then at the snickering American as she processed the joke. Then with a mental click of realisation, she threw the magnet at Amanda's face, prompting her to laugh louder when she turned around so that it collided her shoulder. "I hate you!" Hannah yelled though the hatred didn't really come across well with how Hannah laughed at the terrible joke.

"You love me," Amanda joked as she picked up the magnet and placed it back on the fridge. "You know you do."

Hannah rolled her eyes as she nudged the other cup to Amanda, who took it with a thankful nod. "I'll love you if you make something to eat," Hannah said as she the ache of hunger rumbled in her stomach.

"Sure thing M'lady," Amanda said with a flourishing bow and a dramatic voice "I may not be as best as my teammate but Jasminka made sure I knew how to feed myself."

"Oh rise, mighty idiot," Hannah declared, voice dramatic as well as she played along with the stupid theatrics for some reason. "For as long as you don't poison us or burn the house I will be impressed." With a surprised laugh, Amanda rose from her bowing position and began looking around whilst Hannah herself made her way to one of the seats near the kitchen island and watched Amanda. Well, studied was the better term.

She didn't expect Amanda to act like she did in the short time she was here. Not just here as in England manor here, where she acted out of character and was very sweet to her youngest cousin before going back to normal and taunting the oldest in the next breath. No Hannah meant the moment where Amanda came willingly to Bodmin, where Amanda respected her wishes and didn't push too far like she often did, how Amanda still wore the stupid suits despite hating them, how she even wore the worst one just to make her feel better.

It was weird. It was really, really weird for Hannah to fully digest. This was not the Amanda she knew, this was not the Amanda she went to school with. But maybe perhaps, it was the same Amanda she knew. Maybe this was how Amanda treated her friends or close ones at least. It was even weirder for Hannah to realise that she could be part of that close circle now if she was right with her thoughts.

Before Hannah could contemplate even further, Lily burst through the door, startling both of them as she appeared from the dining room opposed from the hallway door at the very back that Hannah thought she would appear from. "I won!" She shouted as she turned around with a victorious grin as both Alice and Alex followed after her. Hannah gave them a questioning look, gears in her head whirling already to figure out what secret mechanism of the house did they just done.

Alice growled at Lily with an accusing finger, "You cheated!"

"I did not!"

And just like that, the two sisters started their usual squabble. The words quickly became overlapping jargon that Hannah couldn't find any clues on what they did. So her focus turned to the toddler waddling to her with a happy grin and open arms. "Hannah!"

"Hey there sweetie," Hannah cooed as she lifted the girl up onto her lap, face easily smiling at Alex's innocent smiles. "How are you?"

Alex giggled as she pointed over Hannah's shoulder, ignoring Hannah's question. "Amamta!"

"Geez way to spoil the surprise kiddo," Amanda joked as she ruffled Alex's hair, in spite of the braid the child had. Amanda turned to Hannah and Hannah spotted the toasted chocolate sandwich on a plate. "Anyways, lunch is served Rosie," Amanda grinned at her with an obvious playful wink as she slid it over. "I'm surprised you had a toaster around here, didn't think you oldies knew about modern technology."

Hannah rolled her eyes with a slight scoff as she took a nearby napkin and used it to grab one of the triangle cut sandwiches. She ignored both the subtle warmth of her cheeks and how her cousins stopped fighting to look at them. "I told to stop it with the nickname," she said before she took a bite with a satisfying crunch.

Amanda shrugged as she took the other triangle-cut sandwich. "And you also said that you'll love me if I made you something, but I ain't hearing any I love yous yet Hannah."

Hannah almost choked on her sandwich, cheeks burning as her eyes turned to the thrilled gasp from Lily and the aghast look on Alice. Oh, dear Jennifer they better not be thinking about what she thought they were thinking. "You okay Hannah?" Alex asked, still on her lap as she turned around and rubbed Hannah's back, "Do this help? Auntie Rosa do it for me when food gets stuck."

Hannah swallowed her food slowly, eyes glaring at the shit eating grin Amanda seemed to hide as she glanced behind her at Lily and Alice. "I'm fine Alex thank you," Hannah said as she let Alex go down on the floor. "Now go to your sisters so that I can talk to Amanda alone okay?"

Alex, not fully understanding how deadly Hannah's calm and happy tone was, grinned with a nod as she ran to her sisters. Ignoring the "Why do you guys have funny faces?" giggle from Alex, Hannah turned to Amanda with the same happy expression. The calm smile with fiery eyes and a badly hidden frightening aura from her. It was so badly hidden that it made Amanda's hidden sweat drop noticeable by comparison. "Amanda, can I give you a tour of the house?"

She phased it as a question but really it was a command disguised as one. It was also a command that Amanda recognised as she, with wide eyes, gulped down the rest of her bite and placed the sandwich with Hannah's before following her outside, back towards the door they came from.

...

Unknowingly to them, inside the kitchen after a minute being left alone, a ten year old danced to the glorious silent triumph of a sibling victory. "Ha!" Lily smirked as she got into Alice's face with a smug grin, finger already pointing at her. "Try to platonically explain that!"

"They didn't kiss yet!" Alice reasoned, but even she knew that reasoning was weak with how much Hannah blushed and how the stupid American was so casual with the I love you joke.

Lily pounced on the last wording with a bigger victorious cheer. "AHA! YET! You admit defeat!" Near them, ignoring the talk that was happening, Alex walked over to the chair and began to chew on the chocolate sandwiches.

Alice batted away Lily's hands with a grumble, honey eyes narrowing just a bit. "I admit to nothing without physical or visual evidence."

"That explains why you're so hard of hearing," Lily laughed before she caved in with a shrug as her sister eye-rolled her. "Alright, so we'll just continue spying on them."

"Lily noo!" Alex yelled making both of her sisters turn to her. There were crumbs around her mouth, several more chocolate stains on her shirt. "Auntie Rosa said no spying. Spying is mean and could make Hannah and Amanta be no best friens and then Hannah is sad. Then I be sad if Hannah is sad."

"Wooww," Alice said in that gasp made for young children only, "You're really smart to know that spying is bad." She approached her with a kitchen tissue grabbed from one of the stands on a counter.

"Yeah!" Alex grinned as she looked at Alice. Alice automatically softened at Alex's big proud smile and the way she moved her head in a little happy wiggle even though it made the job of cleaning her up a bit more harder. "I'm wary smart!"

"Yep," Alice laughed, "Smarter than your sister who forget that we don't say the word spying around you anymore even if we do it still."

Near the door Lily grumbled, arms folded against her chest as she looked away. "Oh shut up, Lady portraits."

* * *

 **A/N And there we go, we got the England Cousins! Alice, Lily and Alex. I fully love them and I can't wait to show more about them later on and explain a few things about their habits and stuff. Anyways oh my god this chap and the next one is like, low-key the hardest chaps so far cause it's been in the longest WIP. Like so much stuff happens and it was hard to put them in a chapter without like giving the reader too many stuff happening in one chapter so I kept rearranging stuff between the two. It ain't the best but oh well. It's done and that's all that matters.**

 **Also just to clarify just in case people don't know, my fault really for not making it clearer but Hannah and Amanda are not fake dating yet, like the concept of them even fake dating isn't even in their heads. Obviously, its gonna happen but right now, they fully 100% believe that they and the rest of the family think that they are just platonic friends who are platonic dates for a wedding, completely unaware that people think otherwise. Because come on, it totally looks likes Hannah brought Amanda home to introduce her to the family because they're dating.**

 **Also to known British people here is what a chav means via Oxford dictionary: The Oxford English Dictionary defines "chav" as an informal British derogatory, meaning "a young lower-class person who displays brash and loutish behaviour and wears real or imitation designer clothes". To be called a chav is like a big insult lmao, no one wants to be called a chav, trust me I'm British and I will try to use a bit of slang here and there because why not?**

 **Fun Fact: The layout of the house was inspired by sim house blueprints, a Wikipedia page about the types of rooms manors have and me going- You know what? This works in like 3 hrs. It took around 6 hours cause halfway through I forgot toilets and storage spaces exist as well as secrets of the house. A shoddy blueprint will be on my Tumblr side blog soon but I'll make a better one soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

Hannah smirked as she heard the doors close behind her and the following of footsteps. True to her word, Hannah took her to a tour of the house, if only to catch Amanda eventually off guard. She beckoned Amanda back to the foyer and towards the rooms, the kids went through. "The living room," Hannah said as she went in with a soft inhale. Lining the walls were family pictures and portraits of childhood memories.

The nostalgia of a forest scent, the kind that always smelt like home wafted into Hannah's nose with a gentle message of 'Welcome back.' Oh, how she missed it. Hannah turned around, taking in the sunlight passing through the long curtains of the windows. She grinned at Amanda's expression, at the smile in her green eyes, the slow nod of acceptance and the way it said 'hey this place is pretty nice'.

"Usually the guests would relax here-" As she said that Hannah stumbled over something and was about to fall. That was until a firm grip caught her by the arm and steadied her.

"-Unless the kids played here?" Amanda finished with a grin as she helped Hannah up.

"Right," Hannah said, a dash of heat on her cheeks from embarrassment before she stomped it down. She looked down on what she stumbled on, it was a small clouded leopard plushie, coloured in its fluffy ochre colour and wide black marks. The sight made Hannah laugh on instinct. "Hey there Snowy." Hannah picked it up and placed it against the couch that sat against the long couch on the left side.

"Snowy?"

"Lily thought it was a snow leopard instead of a clouded one when she got it when we were younger. Alice teased her about it and made her cry until Alice admitted she was wrong in sheer panic and promised to always call its name properly." There was a pause in between her story as flashes of Lily's smug face whenever Alice called the clouded leopard Snowy and failed to hide her wince. "She knows now that Alice was right but Lily likes the name still so Snowy, the clouded leopard, is called Snowy."

"Lily still has a stuff-toy at the age of ten?"

An automatic, protective older sibling urge filled Hannah as she faced Amanda with a slight glare in her eyes. "Yes, you got a problem with that?"

Amanda laughed at her, "Not really, thought it was cute." Amanda then peered down at the stuff- toy, "Snowy is a cute name too for a cat." Amanda glanced at Hannah, the small smile becoming her usual Cheshire grin and Hannah's eyes widened. Oh, she better not- "Rosie is cuter though." Nines damn it, Amanda!

"I told you!" Hannah growled, almost shouting as her cheeks became red. Nines, she wished she could stop reacting like this to stupid and not at all cute nicknames. Hannah tried to reach out to Amanda in an attempt to bring her closer and swipe at her arm. "Stop calling me Rosie!"

"I didn't," laughed Amanda as she dodged her way out of the living room. "I never implied Rosie as you, you did that to yourself." Hannah paused in her attempts to get Amanda. "Unless you know, you admit that you're a bit catty. Hannah's brain whirred in logistics before everything clicked and her eyes snapped at the now brief terrified expression of Amanda. Amanda took that as a cue to run, but not without the obligatory purring tease and loud rolls of the tongue.

"Amanda O'Neill! Get back here right now!" Hannah screamed as she raced after Amanda. Her cheeks burned for several reasons, adrenaline, embarrassment and other flustering reasons. She passed the double door entry to the library, the toilets and the study near it, passed the entrance to the large room that doubled as an exhibit and her speed tripled.

Amanda was right there, right in front of her and she was about to reach the door that lead to the back garden, if she went out there Hannah would give up trying to catch her. She hoped that Amanda would just slam herself to the door but Hannah knows that she was not that stupid, she also knew that Amanda needed all the brain cells she currently had and then some.

Before she knew it, Amanda reached the door. Hannah sped up as she watched, triumph in her eyes as Amanda rattled the handle but still remained trapped. Amanda glanced back, the smirk was now panicked as she rushed towards the nearby door to her right, the sunroom. Hannah's eyes widened as she picked up the pace, just reaching the door as it was about to slam shut.

Hannah fell back on sibling tactics, of her instinctual history of dealing with stubborn cousins trying to suspiciously keep her out of her room. She dug her foot down on the wooden floor, pressed more of the shoulder and back against the door and pushed with her body instead of her arms. She and every other witch knew her lacking upper body strength.

To her surprise, the door began to give way and before she knew it, Hannah stumbled in. In the corner of her eye, mid lost of step, Hannah saw Amanda move towards the opening. In a different life, maybe Amanda would've outdone her and escaped with a laugh. But in this life, Hannah had a sister and lived with her cousins, she saw this outcome a mile away.

On instinct, Hannah's arm reached out and grabbed Amanda's arm and yanked her back into the room. She barely had time to register and revel in the pure shock and surprise in Amanda's face before Hannah pulled her against the nearby wall and pinned her there with one hand. Next, to them, the door slammed shut.

There was a brief moment of pause where time stood effortlessly still. Afternoon sunlight from the glass walls and glass circular ceiling dressed the duo in warmth, making their red cheeks from their chase glow. Amanda, despite being taller than Hannah, was small in this position. One leg was bent, the other was outstretched against the floor, her figure was constantly catching itself when it slid down the wall.

Hannah towered over her. She stood between Amanda's legs, hazel eyes were filled with rage and frustration as she loomed over Amanda. "Amanda," Hannah growled through bared teeth. "I know you don't like to follow rules and I know you only promised to behave at the wedding but you need to stop this or I swear I will become your worst nightmare." Hazel eyes met green and in the tenseness in the air, Hannah heard her heart thumped once at how Amanda's stared at her. They were cool, unreadable and an enigma like the girl who owned it. "Behave, O'Neill, for your own sake."

Underneath her, Amanda scoffed. "If you're trying to scare me at least pin me right."

Hannah blinked, the bluntness and choice of words caught her off guard. "I'm sorry?"

In a blink of an eye, Amanda ducked under Hannah's outstretched hand, used her bent leg as an anchor to pull back her other leg and move it around Hannah. Then, in the same flow of movement, Amanda grabbed Hannah and turned her around, back against the wall before slamming both hands on the wall, right next to Hannah's face, reversing the situation in a span of seconds.

Hannah, confused, surprised and extremely flustered became still at the smirking American as she leaned in, the distance between their faces was nearly non-existent with how close they were.

"Pin me right," Amanda whispered in a smirking tease. "Trap me in your arms and move close. So close that I'm too shocked to move."

Amanda pulled away, just so that all Hannah could see was her own reflection in Amanda's green eye instead of a haunting shadow. " Lean so close that I could see the fire in your eyes, the ones that will burn me if I don't follow any word you say. If you're trying to scare me to me behave, then try and scare me right."

Just like a magic trick or a miracle, the thick air between them and the way Hannah forgot to breathe or how she suffocated in her lungs vanished as Amanda pulled away. She pulled back, a smug grin on her face, arms comfy behind her head as she wandered away from the stunned Hannah. "Just a little tip for the future in case my best behaviour isn't to your standards," she said so casually like pinning girls was just a usual Monday afternoon.

Like another spell, Hannah snapped out of her state with those words as Amanda looked back at her over the shoulder, her smug Cheshire grin filling Hannah with the urgency to slap her. "I'll try my best to behave a bit more but it's 3 weeks y'know?" To add more fuel to the fire, Amanda winked at her. "Anything could happen in 3 weeks."

Hannah scoffed at her as she turned to the door, opened it and stalked away. She didn't bother giving Amanda a tour anymore, she had more pressing matters to concern herself with, like how warm her cheeks were despite her patting it down like it was flames. She didn't dare look back, she didn't want to see that stupid, smug, enigma of a person. Maybe if she did, she would've noticed that Amanda walked into the large ballroom moments later. Maybe she would've noticed how the door Amanda struggled with was open but now being closed by a cousin and how obvious it was that her younger cousins saw every bit of what happened in the sunroom.

* * *

Amanda kept her usual smirk as Hannah walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. It only then did the quick thinking facade broke and Amanda slouched against a chair, eyes wide as she faced the glass walls. She sat there, hands deep in her hair as she thought back on what happened.

Amanda's heart raced in her chest, she assumed it was from fear and surprise. The surprise was mostly at herself and how she managed to handle that. Not that she would ever admit it for her own pride but Hannah scared her for a moment. As in she literally scared her thoughts away and made her fall back on instincts which somehow was a flirting bravado to distract her captor so that she could escape.

She was used to threats, mostly from Diana on her nightly patrols but she never anticipated Hannah to have the guts to do something like that. Whenever Amanda closed her eyes she could easily picture Hannah's frown and the clear intensity in her hazel eyes, she could see Hannah's small fangs and the way her cheeks- Amanda shook her head to clear her befuddled thoughts. The sun must be getting to her.

Amanda rose, head shaking as she made her way to the door of this really sunny room and walked out. She found herself in the hallway, to the left of her was the same stupid door that didn't open and to the right was Hannah, stalking away in the distance. Amanda didn't dare try and catch up to her, at least until Hannah cooled off but that just left her with a small problem. She was lost.

So as all lost people did, Amanda began to wander. She gravitated towards a lone decorated double door, it was wooden again and arched with more lion heads carved on it. The sight made Amanda chuckle in amusement. They really were sticking to the whole England brand, weren't they? With the whole lion stuff going on. Curious on what was on the other side, Amanda turned the handle and pulled it open. Just like that, Amanda realised how wrong her last thought was.

From the clear vastness and how detailed the ceiling was, it was obvious to call this room a ballroom of some sort. Yet from the interior, the place was similar to a museum. There was a clear pathway laid out in front of her, red ropes blocking her from countless objects in organised rows. There were jewels under glass cases, suits of armour on stands, faded scrolls, paintings, weapons and so much more. It looked like it had anything and everything.

 _As Amanda walked idly, staring at each artefact and the small description near it. Simple curiosity turned to surprise, then wonder, then awe._

 _Broken Trident found in the coasts of Africa, grooves marked over 1000+ years ago. Relic of the old merfolk clans._

 _Locket of Pandaria. Silver chain and gold casing, inscribed with Pandaria. Found in the ruins of Greece, a possible link to the fabled Pandora's box?_

 _Broken sword hilt of the Nine Olde Witches. Belonged to Lady Gladiolus, paladin of the Midnight's watch._

"Oh my god," Amanda whispered to herself. Fingers curled around the red rope that separated her and the sword hilt on top of a forest green cushion and under a glass case. It looked genuine but then again Amanda wasn't one to go to museums so she had no clue if it really was the case. If she was being honest she had half a mind to go beyond the boundary and open it and the temptation was right there under her skin.

Her grip tightened around the rope, her eyes darted around the room, just in case anything or anyone can spot her. Seeing that the coast was clear, Amanda stared at the ancient relic, her breath lost in her throat. Then, Amanda took a deep sigh and walked away, letting go of the rope with a bit of a shake. She didn't want to cause trouble, not when Hannah probably wasn't in the mood to defend her. Plus she doesn't steal from friends, at least not personal stuff like this. Still, the temptation came at her like trickling water and Amanda shoved her hands in her jean pockets just in case.

Turning the corner, Amanda stopped walking. Her eyes were fixated on a large mural piece. It wasn't full of action, it didn't have a cool design nor was it worth any monetary value. It was simply a family portrait. It was just Hannah's cousins and their parents. It was something that felt bigger to Amanda- almost to the state of an empty void. Almost. The longer Amanda looked and stared, the easier it was for her to notice her heartstrings being pulled, tugging faintly like a fish on a hook and it was the only thing that kept her from unravelling.

They were different from what Amanda expected, which really wasn't much but general standards she had with aristocracy: clean sharped looks, dignified posing etc. Hannah's uncle had dark brown messy hair that had patches of blond. His eyes were a colour of soft blue and were behind oval-shaped glasses. He was laughing in his posture and he wore an explorer's shirt that was wrinkled with how Lily was jumping at him from behind, her arms clinging around his neck like a monkey.

Hannah's aunt was looked similar to Hannah with a mix of brown and red hair colour, it was curled and worn like a braid, similar to the one Alex had. She too was laughing, her honey eyes crinkled at the edges. Alice was between the two parents whilst Alex was in her mother's arm, smiling and laughing as a baby. When she looked at the bigger picture, Amanda spotted various things, such as relics she saw before on the journey here to seemingly out of place creatures like a snow leopard and crystal rocks with googly eyes. Or maybe they did had a place there, she just didn't know the significance.

Amanda buried her hands in her pocket, her fingers almost gripping at the fabric as a familiar, haunting temptation to flick her cards out and feel the magic tension in them grew. Amanda looked away from the mural, head ducked down. She swallowed down the heavyweight that grew in her throat with a slight shudder as she shook off whatever surreal moment happened and walked away, head still down. At least until she saw an incoming shadow and looked up.

In front of her was a woman dressed in blue, her hair had the same if not similar shade to Hannah and her aunt with several strands of grey and automatically Amanda spotted a yellow rose to adorn it. Her face was touched by age, slight wrinkles around her eyes and her cheeks sagged just a bit. "Visitors?" She asked, voice regal and refined like the common stereotypes. There was a smile in her question, one that grew as she looked Amanda up and down. "I didn't know we opened the exhibit today."

"I'm uh- Hannah's date, to the wedding," Amanda explained, words stumbling against each other as she realised who she was talking to.

"I'm aware." The lady looked over Amanda again and Amanda fought back the urge to show fear under her hawk-like gaze. "I know who you are."

Amanda nodded as she looked away, glancing at the mural before looking back again. "And I know who you are." Amanda coughed into her hand and straightened back. She took out her other hand out of her pocket and reached it out. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs England."

Hannah's mother rose an eyebrow as she slowly, almost as if she was punishing Amanda from prolonged anxiety, reached her hand out and held it in a firm grip. When she spoke it was twice as slow. "Likewise, Miss Amanda, Caoimhe, O'Neill." Amanda quickly stamped out the instinctual rage in her gut at the use of her middle name as she held her tight smile. They shook once before Amanda pulled away. "Also it's Ms England," she corrected, making Amanda wince. "You, however, are free to call me Rosa."

Usually Amanda would call adults their first name but in this case, the rare allowance felt like a test and oh boy was she bad at tests. "Right," Amanda said with a nod as she glanced elsewhere. She really wished Hannah was here right now, to at least be person Amanda can focus on. She really hated this and not just because she had to brush up on dead memories on how to be really polite. "Anyways," Amanda began as she looked back at Rosalind. "How are you, Ms Rosa?"

Amanda thought the long silence in the ride here was the most awkward silence of her life. Somehow, this seconds long silence eclipsed it by a mile. Rosa's stare was constant, always piercing, always searching for something in Amanda that Amanda didn't know if she found it yet. All the while, Amanda kept her smile as her mind screamed profanities and questions like how the fuck did she ruin this so badly?

Then Rosa giggled at her as if she knew what was going on in Amanda's mind. Then the giggles turned to a laugh, then a cackle and before Amanda knew it, Rosa was clenching her sides, howling from laughter. Amanda was so confused and the sudden change was like a punch to her gut.

"I'm so sorry," Rosa cried through fits of laughter. Her voice sounded younger, kinder than the tone Amanda heard a minute ago. "But your face dear," There was another round of laugh before Rosa continued. "You looked so terrified- and I felt so bad."

Rosa let out a pleased sigh as she reorganised herself. "I'm not really that bad you see," Rosa explained, her words soothed the air around them and Amanda allowed her body to relax. "It's just that Hannah never brought people from school unless they were Diana or Barbara and I always wanted to scare a friend of my daughter."

Amanda's eyes widened a fraction at the small tidbit of information. "I didn't realise Hannah didn't bring people home." Though, now that Amanda thought about it, it did explain why her cousins reacted the way they did when she met them.

Rosa gave Amanda a brief glance before she looked back on the mural near them. "Yes well, that would explain her lack of host manners. Honestly what kind of host would allow their guest to wander without a proper tour."

Amanda ducked her head sheepishly, one hand already scratching the back of her neck as slight guilt tickled her. "Yeah, that's really bad of her."

"Yes, it's almost as bad as taunting your guide to a chase." Amanda froze as she let out a nervous chuckle. Rosa smiled back, her composure was refined once more but this time it had layers of warmth instead of coldness. "You two can be very loud sometimes, which is good. It allows the house to be more lively, the way my sister liked it to be."

Amanda turned her attention to the mural, eyes lingering on the woman with reddish-brown hair. Her words came out before she remembered Hannah telling her not to ask questions before she could shut her mouth. "Your sister?"

Rosa sighed and instead of sadness, Amanda heard pride and joy in her words. "Lady Katherine England-Smyth, was a beautiful mother, younger sister and wife to her husband Daniel Smyth." Rosa wandered about the exhibit, Amanda followed her every step, just lingering a bit to give her the space to reminisce. "Did you know that they discovered everything here? Granted these are all replicas and not the authentic findings but the meaning is still the same."

"Even the sword?"

"Especially the sword, it was their big break to the historical fame."

Amanda nodded her head as she looked around. "That's pretty cool."

"Yes," Rosa laughed. "It is pretty cool."

Behind them, a door that Amanda didn't know she passed opened. For a brief moment, Amanda had a glimpse of white floorboards and a distant maze before the doors shut and her eyes focused on the person who entered.

"Hello Lily," Rosa said as Lily walked towards them.

"Hey there auntie," Lily said with a wave of her hand before she nodded at Amanda with a big conspiring grin on her face. "Hey, Hannah's date."

Amanda nodded back, slightly unsure and confused on how to address her. Whilst the grin made her weary, the fact that she addressed her as Hannah's date meant she liked her, right? In the end, Amanda gave her a small smirk and a finger gun, "Sup kid."

Lily looked at her confused. "I thought Alex was kid?"

"Alex is kiddo," Amanda clarified.

"Ohhh-wait, you called Alice kid too! We can't have the same nickname, change my one."

Amanda shrugged as she said what came at the top of her head, she usually just gave nicknames to friends but she can make a leeway just this once. "Sure, De-lion."

"Boring." Lily's face was nothing but dull, lips were a straight line and the bored eyes were almost insulting. "That's a play of Delilah so it's pretty bad but 10/10 for effort."

Amanda scoffed as she looked away, trying to think up a better nickname quickly, something to do with Lily.

Lily, in turn, placed her hands on her hips at pointed accusingly at Amanda, misreading Amanda's actions. "Look here missy," she demanded. "You're Hannah's gerrr- friend, date… thing? Yeah? Yeah- Yes." If Amanda was actually paying attention to Lily, she would've noticed the slight mishap but instead, only Rosa caught it and looked at both of them with a questioning glance. A glance Lily ignored in favour of making Amanda look at her by tugging at her sleeve. "Anyways you're supposed to be smart so that means a better nickname okay?"

"I know," Amanda said. "So how about Lilypad?"

Lily beamed at her with a wide smile. "Brilliant!" Straight away Lily grabbed Amanda's arm and yanked her. The sudden action caused Amanda to stumble a bit as Lily led her to another door on the far left wall. "Byee Auntie! If you see Hannah tell her I'm stealing her date!"

"Her room is the closest to the playroom, by the way, Lily!"

"Got it! Also if you see Alice tell her I'm taking a snowflake obsidian!"

"She won't like that!"

Lily laughed. "That's the point!"

With that Lily pushed through the double doors and brought Amanda to the hallway. "Are you always like that to your sister?" Amanda asked as she Lily lead her down a bit to get to another set of doors.

"It's her fault really, she was stupidly vague in her deal," Lily reasoned as she opened the doors and brought Amanda to a wide large space of a room. "Thanks for that by the way, her desperation to spy on you made her forget to be specific in what I'm allowed to take."

Amanda blinked at her. "Her desperation to do what?"

"Nothing!" Lily denied before she let go of Amanda with her arms outstretched to the room. "Anyways, first stop on the England Tour is this! The family room." Not really wanting to unpack why Alice wanted to spy on her, Amanda allowed the slip up to slide. She walked around the room, no longer surprised on how expensive everything looked, from the wide tv to the books on the shelves and just how much space there was.

"Well it's certainly big enough to fit several families," Amanda commented as she turned her head towards the other room attached to it to the left, only separated by an archway and small set of descending stairs.

"Yeah well, Meera's crew have to fit in here somehow," Lily shrugged before she followed Amanda's gaze. Amanda turned to Lily as the unfamiliar name repeated her head. She never heard of this 'Meera' nor did Hannah mention them before. Was she another relative? A cousin maybe? "Oh yeah, that's the games room. We play a lot there- oh and that's the back stairway to the first floor," Lily continued as she pointed to the stairs at the very back.

Lily then tugged at Amanda's sleeve again and pointed out other doors. "Over there," she said pointing at the single door at the back wall. "Is the hallway that leads to the fae servants' house and the outside." Then Lily pointed on the door to the right, "On the right, there's the door to the kitchen and behind us is the hallway that can lead you to the ballroom or foyer or whatever."

Before Amanda could say anything else, Lily was pulled her away again and dragged her down to the game room and then up the stairs. "Come on slowpoke I wanna show your room."

As they raced up the stairs, Amanda came across beautiful dark wooden walls, runic designs on the edges as they came across a small landing with three doors, two right next to each other and one on the right near the hallway. "That's Hannah's room," Lily said as she pointed to the door on the left decorated with a rose in the middle, before pointing next to it where the door had a quill instead. "And that's one is Barbara's."

Amanda gaze moved constantly between the two doors. Really knowing how close they were she shouldn't be surprised that Barbara has a room in Hannah's house but Amanda was still surprised. "Wait, Barbara has a place here?"

Lily looked at her as if she was stupid. "Yeah, why wouldn't she? They're like, together all the time. This is literally Barbara's second home vice versa with Hannah for Barbara's bajillion castles."

Okay, now Amanda felt that she had the right to be surprised. "I'm sorry but Barbara has what again?"

"Castles," Lily stated, once again saying it like it was common knowledge. "Auntie Evangeline fixes up abandoned witch castles and manors for the government and now legally owns some of them."

"Oh my god," Amanda said in a slightly dazed shock, her mind only focusing on one key aspect from the dialogue. "Lotte is dating an actual fucking princess."

"Language!" Lily frowned as she poked Amanda on the side. "If Alice catches you swearing you're hecking screwed." After a moment the frown turned curious, her eyes quickly focusing on Amanda. "Also Barbara is a duchess? I think? Also, who is Lotte?."

"Yeah sorry," Amanda said absentmindedly as she brought her hand down her mouth, still surprised, the information still digesting. "Bloody hell, umm-well Lotte is a mutual friend and the girlfriend of Barbara."

"Ahhhh!" Lily squealed, hands clasped together as she jumped into Amanda's personal space. "What's she like? Is she really nice to Barbara? How pretty is she?"

"Uhhhh," Amanda stalled as she took a cautious step away. Was Barbara's relationship supposed to be a secret? If so did she fuck up by letting it slip? "Aren't you supposed to be giving me a tour?"

"Come on pleaseee," Lily begged as she gave a wide grin to Amanda. "Hannah barely tells us anything in her letters, I want to know more about this Lotte person."

"Look if Hannah didn't want to tell you, I can't say a thing," Amanda said quickly, a small sweatdrop forming near her brow. In her head, a chorus of fucks and the story of how she fucked up was sung like an opera.

"Pleaseeee? I'll show you all the secret entrances and doors and hidden walls!"

Now _that_ was tempting. Amanda didn't even know Hannah's house had all these hidden stuff but then again, her aunt and uncle did do stuff to the doors so she wouldn't be surprised if they did other things to the house. But this wasn't her secret, she was a dick but not to her friends when it mattered. If Lotte and Barbara or even Hannah, didn't want to share the relationship then she wouldn't be a dick and sell them out for house tricks. They can come out in their own time.

"Look I said no, Lily," Amanda repeated, voice resolute as she stood her ground.

"Ughhh," Lily growled. Her brow was scrunched up, the wide smile was replaced with a grumpy and frustrated frown. "Fine, whatever." She turned around, arms crossed across her chest. "You can go look around on your own, your room is over there." Lily flicked her hand towards the door near to Hannah's and Barbara's room before marching down the stairs they came from.

The door had no emblem or sigil or any marking that went against Lily's claim. It was just a simple dark oak door with a gold looking door knob. But somehow, after Lily pointed it out, something in Amanda began to tug and left behind an indescribable weight. Like something or someone was pressed against her chest, almost pushing or pulling her in.

With no words or thought, Amanda gravitated towards the door. The knob was cold against her touch and when she opened the door, a darker chill swept over her and she shivered. The room was filled with objects covered by large white sheets, the only places that weren't covered was a dusted bed tucked in the corner, a wardrobe next to it and a mirrored dressing drawer that was against the right wall. It's the only source of light came flickering in through the window but its reach was dimmed from curtains.

Amanda crept inside, the door swung to an ajar stop behind her as the floorboards creaked, almost screaming amongst the silence. Amanda didn't touch the cloaked objects, nor did she glanced at them. Her body just followed the tug and the heavyweight in her gut, the one where it's weight sunk deeper with every step towards the mirrored dressing drawer.

There was another cold chill prickling in the air when Amanda reached the white, dusted drawer. She could hear the wind whistle behind her from a window that wasn't opened before. The sunlight fluctuated behind but she didn't notice, nor did she care. Amanda's eyes and heavy slow breathing paused at a small brown chest just in front of the mirror. Light reflections flickered on the simple rusting lock. Amanda raised her hand to open it.

"What are you doing Amanda?"

Before she slammed her hand into her pocket and snapped her head towards the door, coming face to face with a furious Hannah England. The cold chill of the room was gone as well as the weighted tug in her chest and if Amanda ever noticed the changes of the room, they were gone too.

* * *

Hannah watched Amanda look around unsure, almost as if she wasn't guilty of breaking into a locked room and was about to steal something. "I… don't know?" Amanda said, her voice rising to a higher pitch with her puzzled tone before she turned to Hannah. "Hey, this is my room right?"

Was it really too much to ask to have one moment of peace? Then again, Hannah placed this on herself for ditching Amanda in her own house. Still, she didn't expect her to try and take something from Diana's room of all things, especially when she just said she would try and behave. The audacity irritated her to hell. "No!? Why would a locked room be your room?"

Now it was Amanda's turn to give her a confused look, a corner of her lips tugged into her cheeks as one of her brows raised. "The room was unlocked what the hell are you talking about?"

Hannah gave her a deadpan stare, arms folded on her chest voice loaded with sarcasm. "Sure Amanda, the room that is constantly locked- and is not your room," she added quickly, "Was not locked when you arrived, sure."

Amanda's expression turned ugly, her eyebrows narrowing as she took a step forward. Her voice came at a growl. "Well, Lily told me it was so-"

"Wait hold on," Hannah interrupted, anger momentarily forgotten. "Lily said that this was your room, am I hearing this correctly?"

"Yeah, why the hell would I lie to you?"

Hannah immediately sighed as she lowered her head, a hand already pinching the bridge of her nose. She wasn't surprised that Lily would do this, this was something she did when people got on her bad side, tricking people and leading them to rooms they weren't supposed to be in. "By the nine Amanda, what did you do now?"

"What did you mean what did I do!?" Amanda said outraged.

"You got on Lily's bad side that's what you did!" Hannah exclaimed as she brought her a hand to her head, massaging the small ache that sprouted there. "Nines that explains a lot." It explained both why Amanda didn't know that she was about to steal from Diana's family, it explained why Amanda thought it was her room. It didn't explain why the door was unlocked but if Lily expanded her skills whilst she was away the Hannah wouldn't be surprised if she opened it.

"So what you're telling me was that your cousin tricked me?"

"Apparently," Hannah shrugged, "Not that I'm surprised."

Amanda turned to the side with a small frown."Tch, what a brat."

"Hey." Hannah's head snapped out, the anger reigniting in her eyes. "Watch what you say about my cousin. Also, get out of the room."

"Sorry," Amanda muttered as she walked out of the room, "It kinda slipped out."

Amanda didn't seem apologetic but the for sake of it, Hannah ignored it. "Whatever, just don't go back to Diana's room again."

Amanda paused at the doorway, surprise dawning on her face. "Wait, you have a room for Diana?"

Hannah pulled Amanda out of the doorway and slammed the door behind her. She turned to Amanda, frustrated at what she was implying, annoyed at the obvious surprise in her eyes. Was it not obvious that all three of them are friends? "Of course I have a room for Diana!? Why wouldn't I?"

Amanda shrugged, hands gesturing aimlessly as she tried to come up with an excuse. "I mean- it's just full of covered stuff so… y'know, thought it was a storage room or something."

"Liar," Hannah called out with a glare as she poked her on the side. "You already said you thought that it was your room and even attempted to steal something from it."

"I didn't know!" Amanda exclaimed, "I didn't know it was her room to begin- and besides why does Diana have a room full of hidden stuff anyways?"

"Because it's her stuff," Hannah explained, "When Diana's aunt started to sell away the Cavendish house artefacts, my family and Barbara's bought as much as we could to help Diana preserve her family history."

Amanda's mouth was open slightly, her eyes were wide and her brows were raised. It was the look of surprise that Hannah expected from her but the way her green eyes glistened in the room light and how her overall expression was soft- almost in awe and filled with respect and admiration was something Hannah didn't expect. At all. The naked, invisible praise made her stomach churn, forcing Hannah to look away from her with a slight stammer. "Anyways, ummm do you want to go to your room now?"

Amanda shook her head a bit, quickly snapping back into reality as she walked away from Hannah a bit. "Uh yeah, where is that again?" She looked down the bannister railing, just missing the sudden movements of shadows. "Lily just showed me this place and the place below us- the uhhh game room and family room. Your mum told me that my room was the nearest to the playroom, wherever that is."

"Wait- you already met my mother!?" Hannah's eyes were wide, a sweat dropped appeared near her brow. "You didn't mess up your first impression did you?" Amanda and her mother was a bad idea, mainly because her mother was someone she shouldn't cross and was one of the few people that could force Amanda away from the wedding. She was hoping to avoid them meeting until the dinner but it appeared that that plan was now ruined.

Amanda backed away slightly with a shrug, "I mean, I'm still here aren't I?"

"That's not helping Amanda," Hannah groaned, another slight headache appeared, intensifying the one that was already there. "Nines, what if she sends you away." The mere thought of her dealing with Veronica after the fall out of her date getting kicked out of the house, because somehow she will find out, made her headache worse. Now both hands were on her head, trying to massage the stressed induced ache.

"Geez," Amanda said as she looked at Hannah. She took a step closer and brought Hannah to a hug, the action was too sudden and too unpredicted for Hannah to care. Hannah rested there in a space between her chest and shoulder, allowing this small moment of peace and vulnerability in front of Amanda. She was too mentally tired however, to hug her back and she was glad that Amanda didn't seem to mind nor care. "You need to stop stressing out Rosie, everything will be fine."

"Why do you call me Rosie?" Hannah said, her voice muffled against her clothes. It was stupidly hilarious that in spite of all the stress in her head, this was the question that Hannah prioritised first. She didn't want to think of the implications of why that was the case.

"I give all my friends nicknames," Amanda answered easily. Hannah blushed at her words, a mix from the fact that they were friends and from the inner shame that she was didn't realise that they were before. "Calling you England in a place where everyone is called England is stupid and besides-" Hannah felt the warm breath brushing over the shell of her ear before she heard the words. "The name is cute so it fits you."

Hannah backed away from the hug in an instant, the embarrassment and heat in her cheeks pulled her headache away as she glared at Amanda with her stupid, cheeky grin. "Okay no more calling me Rosie, give me another nickname Yankee."

"Yankee?" Amanda laughed with a slight shake of the head. "That's a terrible nickname my English rose."

Hannah crossed her arms and looked proud, "Well then it certainly fits-" Her mind paused and her cheeks flared. She refused to look at Amanda, she could hear the victory in her laugh and didn't want to emphasise it even more. In the end, she caved and glared at her as the nickname whispered in her ears. _My English Rose_ "-Wait, what did you call me?"

"English Rose," Amanda smirked, adding a stupid aggravating wink as well. "You wanted a new nickname didn't you?"

A second passed. Then two. Three and now five. After the tenth second Hannah pulled away from their staring contest with a growl as she stalked past Amanda. "Nines I hate you, Amanda."

"I love you too my English rose."

Another blush, more intense than the casual Rosies flung at her burned under Hannahs' skin as she all but raced the rest of the way to her door. "AND GO BACK TO ROSIE!" With that she slammed her door shut, ignoring the oh shit look in Amanda's face and the sudden knocking on her door.

Hannah slid down her door, her heart pounding from anger and embarrassment. Her body shook from the vibrations, her mind repeating the same statement over and over again. She hated her, that Hannah despised her. It was a lie. An obvious lie if she dared to remind herself that she wouldn't trust someone she hated with the knowledge of her house but there was a strange comfort in her lies, so she would believe it for now. Especially when the other plausible mantra to be stuck in her head was Amanda's terrible nicknames for her.

"Wait Hannah you didn't show me my room!?" Amanda banged on the door.

Hannah ignored her as she stood up and rummaged for a sheet of paper and pen in a room she hasn't been in since Christmas. Eventually, she found some tucked away in a desk drawer and sat down at the desk to draw crudely all the while listening to Amanda. Her sudden banging slowed down to the occasional tap every now and then there was silence. Except it wasn't much of a silence when Hannah returned to her door. The banging sound just shifted to a curious mixture of muffled movement and magic

Hannah didn't even know what to expect when she opened the door, but she knew for a fact she didn't expect this. Amanda was on her knees, in her hands was a rose, sparkles surrounding the stem in some whimsical, theatrical form of magic. She wasn't wearing her usual attire, her clothes were switched to something Hannah didn't expect to see so soon. Amanda was in the Hawaiian suit she bought, she was wearing everything, right from the tacky colours to the shorts.

"Please show me my room?"

This was something Hannah expected from Akko with her cheery demeanour, not someone as wild and uncaring as the Amanda O'Neill. The fact that she did this made everything more bizarre, more stupid and for some reason, Hannah couldn't stop smiling.

"By the nines Amanda," Hannah giggled, a hand covering her face as the other held on to the door frame, "What the hell are you doing?"

Amanda shrugged in an effort to act unfazed but Hannah could see the corners of her lips and how they curled upwards. She could see that Amanda was holding herself back much like, or even better than she was. "Apologising? Asking you to show me the room and not get lost in your huge fucking house?"

"But-" Hannah had to stop herself, her laughter no longer seeping through her hand as she gestured to all of her, her eyes subconsciously lingered at Amanda's toned legs. She in her head argued that it was because of the bizarreness of the shorts. "-All of this!"

This time Amanda looked offended, but in the common theatrical way that Hannah saw before as Amanda stood up, fully showcasing the suit in all of its pathetic, stupid, glory. Hannah had to give herself a moment or two before she could recover, it didn't help that Amanda finally cracked and joined in with the laughter.

"Come on now Hannah," Amanda laughed, stepping closer to nudge Hannah. "Remember when Akko wasn't here and I used to be the person with the theatrics?"

Hannah snorted, pushing Amanda away with a light-hearted shove. Those days were ages ago, it was almost foreign thinking to Hannah. It was hard to imagine the days before Akko and Sucy weren't with them at the very start of the school year. "Yeah with your stupid stunts, not some costumes."

Amanda gave her a questioning grin, one brow raised like Hannah gave her a dare. "How do you know that this isn't a stunt, to begin with?" She took a step back and with a simple wave of her wand she procured from a pocket, Hannah didn't know she had, Hannah watched as the magic faded. Where Hawaiian suit with shorts Amanda disappeared, normal, boring Amanda returned and the magical rose she had in her hand became a folded piece of paper, the same paper Hannah worked on.

"You!" Hannah yelled, still a smile on her face as she tried to grab the paper. Amanda was too quick however and ducked away, using her height as an advantage to keep the paper away from Hannah.

"Oh ho ho," Amanda grinned as she held the paper higher. "What's in the paper, Rosie?" Amanda glanced behind her and stepped to the side to an opening she didn't notice before. Now they were in a more open space, a set of stairs were in the middle, one that descended and ascended. On the walls were more doors and between some of them, there were tucked away open areas. With her eyes on Hannah, Amanda didn't notice a set of familiar bags resting near a blank wooden door a couple feet behind her.

"Nothing!" Hannah growled as she tried to reach out again. She missed Amanda again, the redhead ducked back away from her reach, laughing all the same as she taunted Hannah, waving the paper right in front of her face as she reached out once more.

"If it's really nothing then why the hell are you trying so hard to get it back?" Amanda laughed as she walked backwards, too busy laughing to watch where she was going.

"Because it's the principle of the matter!" Hannah argued, her eyes glanced behind Amanda's body, an idea sparking in her head at the lack of distance she was between Amanda and Amanda's own bags. This time instead of trying to lunge out and grab the taunting piece of paper, Hannah reached out and pushed Amanda.

Amanda's eyes grew from surprise before panic emerged on her face as she stumbled against the bags on the floor. Taking this opportunity, Hannah closed the gap between them and pinned Amanda to the wall. One hand was propped against the wall, the other grabbed the keys resting on the luggage and held them tight to muffle the sound as Hannah hid them behind her back.

"If I let you get away for stealing something then you're going to do it again."

Amanda smirked at her, her green eyes gleamed with the usual vibe of mischief and just as Hannah expected no- anticipated, Amanda ducked underneath her one outstretched arm and reversed their positions. This time, however, Hannah was ready for this and smirked at Amanda when she pinned her to the area to the left, the door. Just where Hannah wanted to be. With her free hand, she moved the keys blindly to the lock.

Amanda's smile was cocky, one side tilted higher than the other as she looked down at her, for some reason, she didn't notice the sound nor movement from Hannah's hand. Not that Hannah cared, she preferred having Amanda's eyes solely on her. Amanda leaned in closer and Hannah's fingers froze momentarily, caught in the proximity. "Well, what happens if I steal your heart?"

A beat. There would've been a beat of silence, a beat of air, a beat of a second where maybe, maybe all of Hannah would've froze at that question. But Hannah's mind currently was latched onto another purpose and it was too busy to consider or react to such a notion, especially when Hannah's hand felt the turn of a key and a click of a lock. "Then I'll gladly show you the door."

In one sudden swoop, Hannah opened the door and Amanda's eyes went wide as her hands found either a moving perch or none at all. Hannah, always a quick learner, ducked under Amanda's arms and gave Amanda the push she didn't need but fully deserved. In the same motion, Hannah nudged a box at Amanda's feet, ensuring her inevitable stumble to the ground. The American fell with a clutter of chaos and curses. The paper that she held in her hand was now aloft in the air before it drifted down, right onto Hannah's hands.

"Holy shit you learn fast," Amanda grumbled, hand massaging her head as she looked up at Hannah.

Hannah ever-present smirk grew as she flicked her ponytail over her shoulder. "Let's hope you can say the same thing about yourself O'Neill." Hannah tossed Amanda the paper, in her hands, the same paper they just fought over for a minute ago. "It's a map about the house," Hannah explained after Amanda gave her a confused look.

"And you're giving to me because?"

"Because I have cousins to talk to and you're old enough to walk around and not mess up anything," Hannah said as she took out her wand and waved it a bit. Amanda's luggage began to fly inside and Amanda had to shift her head to the side just to make sure she didn't get hit. "Or you could stay here in your room, not mess around and be easier to collect when dinner hits around 7."

"Alright, alright, alright," Amanda said as she helped herself up. "I get the memo, I'll stay in the room."

"Glad to know you can listen after all," Hannah smirked as she placed her wand away.

"You know you could've just shown me my room like a normal person," Amanda said as she glanced at the map in her hands, walking back till her legs hit a bed and sat down.

"And let you get away with trying to take my stuff?" Hannah laughed as she quickly peered out of the doorway, just catching the edge of darting fabric. "With my cousins around?"

Amanda glanced at her, a smirk on her face. "I never knew punishment means: find a way to pin me back to the wall. Second time now Rosie, if it happens again it's gonna be a habit. Not that I mind but y'know..."

Hannah scowled, her blush igniting just enough colour to make Amanda laugh. "Go take a nap O'Neill," she hissed as she walked out the door, closing it shut as she found herself in the hallway. Hannah turned to the left, where there were more several rooms, those of her cousins' rooms specifically.

"I know you're there, girls," Hannah said seemingly to thin air. "No trapping Amanda's door." Her assumption that they were being spied on was proven correct at the joint familiar groans in the distance. "You can thank me later for this Amanda," Hannah whispered to herself as she started to make her way to her cousins.

* * *

 **A/N- Me re-reading this to check for grammar mistakes and forgot that I gave you two kabedons: Y'all are so spoiled lmao.**

 **Anyways! We are kinda almost there to the end of the arc, two more chapters I think (cause I haven't written them yet lol- I blame this chap and Chap 5 and school lol- Writing troubles with when to cut off to the next chap is a bitch). I hope you guy enjoyed this chapter! Even though it gave me pacing hell, I had a lot of fun writing it!**

 **Fun Fact: The reason why Hannah's aunt and uncle artefacts are replicas is because the real artefacts are in their own country's museum or whoever it belongs to. Trident? With the merfolk in that region, locket? In Greece's national magic museum. The sword hilt is with the British magical government.**


	7. Chapter 7

"So," Alice said as she twirled a daisy stem in her hands, in the other hand was the unfinished daisy chain she was making for Alex. "There is entirely nothing going between you and that American chav right?"

For some bizarre reasons, this was all they wanted to talk about after Hannah brought them to the garden, specifically the inner fields portion, to chat whilst the sun was still out. Her cousins, though she loved them all dearly, was rather more interested in her non-existent love life with Amanda than anything else that happened in school. To say that it annoyed Hannah was obvious, but to say that she was more annoyed that they continued to slag off Amanda among other things was a surprise.

Hannah sighed into her own daisy chain filled hands, she never thought she would be defending Amanda O'Neill this early on into the holidays but here she was saying the same sentence yet again like a broken record. "She has a name, Alice." Hannah's eyes narrowed at the England smirk already on Alice's lips. "And stop calling her a Chav, it's not an accurate term to describe her."

"Yeah Alice," Lily jeered next to them, "Stop calling Hannah's date a chav." She didn't partake in the daisy chain workshop in the garden fields, though she was decorated to the brim with daisy necklaces, bracelets and crowns. Alice glared at her as Lily made her smirk more taunting with a tilt of the head before it got ruined when she adjusted her fickle crown after it went over her eye. "Call her a skank instead."

"Delilah England-Smyth!"

"I said Skunk!" Lily backtracked quickly, fearing the anger that came from a full name response. "Because you know? She stinks!" Hannah moved her hand to grab Lily but Lily was too quick and shuffled away. Alice laughed at the exchange before giving a nod towards Lily for the sibling solidarity whilst Hannah gave up and laid on the grass with a sigh.

"I don't understand why you guys don't like her," Hannah said, mostly to herself. "She's not bad enough to warrant calling her all those horrible things."

"I like Amanta," Alex mumbled near her.

"And around Alex of all thing!" Hannah exclaimed, suddenly remembering the toddler's existence like the rest of her cousins. She sat up and moved Alex, who was before sitting on the grass playing with her toys, onto her lap to hug her. Alex giggled at the sudden action but continued playing with her toys. "Shame on both of you for corrupting her in my presence."

"Do you want us to do it when you're not around instead?" Lily deadpanned. Hannah glared at her once more, prompting the girl to wisely shut up.

"Look, Hannah," Alice started again making Hannah turn to her. "Sure your-," Alice paused as her face soured and Hannah groaned loudly at the same repeating problem.

"By the nine," Hannah whispered to herself before exploding. "She has a name! Amanda is her name! Amanda O'Neill!"

"We don't want to say it because if we give a name to a pet rock we might get attached."

"By the nine, don't call Amanda a rock!"

"Yeah!" Alice agreed for once, her eyes turned to Lily. "My rocks are nowhere equivalent to her level."

"You're right," Lily said soberly as she bowed her head to Alice. "Your grace, I humbly apologise to your court of rocks for insulting them, please forgive me."

"Raise your head you wretched goblin," Alice demanded in an over the top voice. "Your crimes against the sister crown are now pardoned, however-"

"Jennifer help me," Hannah said as she watched this all go down. Of course, her cousins would avoid talking about Amanda or say her name by doing an impromptu garden show led by Lily. In her lap, Alex turned around and shushed her causing Hannah to raise her and drop her hands in exasperation.

"There is still a traitor amongst our ranks, a spy." Alice continued, her honey eyes focusing on Hannah, the sign and meaning completely obvious. "Information about this intruder is scarce but already, we're aware of her irritating personality, her not-chav attire, her stupid hair-"

"Okay okay okay," Hannah intervened, somehow taking more offence to the hair than anything else Alice insulted. "So what you're telling me is that you don't trust Amanda because you don't know her."

"Technically, we didn't say anything to you," Lily pointed out, always forever the person who kept track of loopholes. Next to her Alice nodded her head and in turn, Hannah already started to roll her eyes. "After all we're just roleplaying about a spy in two courts, not whatever your date is."

Hannah placed a hand to her forehead and massaged the ache already forming, "Why are you two so insistent on hating Amanda? You only just met." Even she didn't hate Amanda at the first glance and interactions, at first she thought she was rowdy but interesting. Those thoughts automatically shifted within the first week of being her presence when Amanda became more aloof and acting much like a stereotypical delinquent.

To this question, there was no answer, at least verbally. Alice turned away with a huff, her arms crossed together with her nose scrunching up. Lily looked away as well, her eyes glared at her daisy chains as her fingers plucked away at the petals in an act of annoyance. "Come on guys," Hannah pleaded.

"Yeah!" Alex pouted in Hannah's lap, she pointed a finger to both of them, her hand moving between the words. "Stop bweing mean to Amanta!" Hannah laughed at her and hugged her closer to show her appreciation.

Alice gave her a wary glance, concern and a mixed judgement written all over her face. "Is our opinion of her really that important to you?"

"Yes," Hannah replied without a second to spare. She then quickly glared at Lily who perked her head up. "But not because we're dating."

"I wasn't going to say that," Lily mumbled, sighing dramatically after she did. She flopped back to the ground and stared at the sky. "Why is our opinion important to you if you aren't dating anyway?"

To that, Hannah had no answer.

"Well," Hannah began, her silence taken longer than usual, something every one noticed. "She's a friend-"

"-A close one," Lily butted in.

Hannah nodded unknowingly at her words, her mind still busy trying to unravel the mystery of why she cared so much to herself, or at least be smart enough to make a lie that everyone could get behind, herself included. "Right. Also, she will be with us until Isabelle's wedding and I want all of you to get along as best as possible."

The wedding stirred some memories, flashes of screaming at a phone, stirred in her head and there did Hannah's mind found a ledge to perch on. It was ridiculous to believe that it was only yesterday where Hannah asked Amanda to join her as her date to the wedding. "She's here to, well, support me," Hannah continued. Support was a good word, better than the term spite tool and a cop-out from Veronica's insults.

Alice perked up in an instant. "Wait, are you planning to come out to Aunt Rosa?"

Again. Silence.

"I-Well," Hannah said then stopped, her mind lost and flustered. The familiar trepidation of coming out, the fear of ruining everything made it hard to think properly. Subconsciously, Hannah held Alex tighter, not tight enough to cause discomfort but close enough to feel her pulse under her hand. It eased her enough to speak again. "I haven't really thought about it." She confessed, in a breath above a whisper. In reality, she didn't _wan_ t to deal with it, coming out to her cousins months ago was hard enough, even when it was just through crystal balls, she didn't want to deal with her mother. Not just yet, not with the wedding so close.

It was an irrational fear. A stupid but unbearably humane fear. Hannah knew that her mother was not as conservative as she was in the past, not after the family scandals, the loss and the exposures. If she was the same person as she was in Hannah's far gone youth, Meera and her crew wouldn't even be around as often as they were, nor would her mother damn the adults who forsaken their own daughter over matters such as gender and love. But still, that one fear- that her mother would react differently to her own family's sexuality than she does with strangers, haunted Hannah and left her alone to silence.

" _You need to stop stressing out Rosie, everything will be fine."_

It was amazing that even if her own silent thoughts, the mere presence of Amanda wouldn't shut up. Hannah would never admit how thankful she was for it. "Maybe?" Hannah said with a hint of the laugh. The unease slowly unfurled itself in her gut, the grip on Alex was loosening as Hannah imagined Amanda comforting her like she did when she once fought Barbara. "If I do decide, she'll help me with that," Hannah said aimlessly to herself, her laughter was gone now but what was left was a small, delicate smile. "She's definitely not straight."

"Oh yeah, we saw that first hand," Lily commented casually before Alice smacked her around the shoulder, glaring at Lily who made a casually hidden glance to the sunroom.

Hannah looked at them like they just grew an extra sibling, "When have you?" Hannah stopped and shook her head, quickly realising she had no energy to deal with whatever they just did. "You know what never mind, I'd rather not know."

"Alice too in all honesty," Lily commented again, causing another smack from Alice. This time her pale face was fuming with anger and embarrassment. Lily snickered at the sight, causing the other girl to scowl and look away.

"Consider yourself lucky that the laws of this land won't allow me to kill you," Alice grumbled to herself. The snicker now turned to full out laughter and Hannah had to quickly guide Alex between them before anything else escalated.

"Aliss," Alex pouted, placing her hands on one of Alice's arms, her daisy chain crown falling a bit. I'm hum-gary."

Like a spell, Alice's anger faded and a soft smile adorned her face. "We'll be eating soon princess," Alice grinned as she lifted Alex onto her lap, the little girl giggling as she got moved again to a hug.

"Yayyy!"

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Lily butted in before anyone else can speak. Lily fished her phone from her pocket and quickly found herself on a messaging screen. "Auntie Rosa texted me earlier that Dinner is around 7pm and that it's casual attire for once." She showed it to the others, grinning as she did. "Which is bloody great, to be honest, too hot for dresses."

Hannah's eyes widened at the news. "What? But Mum always have formal attire when guests are around." Despite the change in belief over the years, her mother was still some sort of a traditionalist, or at least she had a constant pattern to expect and work from.

Lily shrugged as she put her phone back. "Well, Auntie Rosa met your date already so maybe its a change of plan?"

"Well then," Hannah sighed as she looked up to the second floor of their house. "We spent 2 hours suit shopping for nothing."

"I'm sorry but you did what?" Lily said, her eyes glanced to Alice, her own expression was a mix of annoyed, smugness and hope. What kind of hope Lily desired, Alice couldn't figure out when she glared back with a subtle shake of the head.

"Alice, can you be a dear and tell Amanda that the attire isn't formal anymore?" Hannah said as she looked down to her cousins. Both of them looked at her like she was crazy, Lily specifically looked almost offended.

"Why not me? Alice hates her!" Lily reasoned.

"Because," Hannah said as she stood up and brushed patches of grass of her clothes. "When it comes to traps, Alice promised me not to make them."

"She could be lying," Lily argued as she too stood up.

"And when she does that, you'll be the superior cousin." Hannah moved over to Alice and Alex, her smile wide as Alex looks at her with outstretched grabby arms. "Hey there sweetie," she cooed to the toddler who giggled as she got picked up before she rested her head on Hannah's shoulder.

The thought of being the superior cousin took Lily off guard, her eyes blinked in surprise before she turned to Alice with a smile. "Hey Alice, I fully support you in lying to Hannah, you should really do it."

Alice rolled her eyes. "The day I lie to Hannah is the day you call Snowy something to do with clouds."

Lily didn't miss a beat. "Okay, so Snowy is called Nimbus now." Even though she didn't fully get what was going on, Alex giggled in Hannah's arms whilst Hannah herself smirked at their antics as she started to walk ahead.

"Alright I'm still not lying to her," Alice said as she quickly got up and tried to catch up with Hannah.

Lily ran ahead before she jumped right in front of Alice, finger already prodding Alice's chest, her face held a smirk. "Aha, you lied to me!" Lily turned to Hannah. "Does this mean I'm the superior cousin now?"

"No!" Alice said as she batted away Lily's hand and tried to march away. "That only happens if I lie to Hannah, not you!"

Lily ignored her. "Begone Lesser Cousin and go do your job!"

"Urghh," Alice sighed, grumbling to herself as she walked off.

"You know it's also because you tricked Amanda into doing something stupid like going inside Diana's room," Hannah mentioned off handly as she watched Alice walk ahead of them whilst trying to adjust a now more hyperactive toddler in her arms, too busy to hear what Lily had to say.

Lily paused and looked at Hannah with the most confused face ever. "I did what now?"

"So what do you think of the place Stanbot?" Amanda asked as she laid down on her bed, staring blankly at a white boring ceiling.

"Surprising yet interesting," said Stanbot, their monotone robotic voice made Amanda snort as she pushed herself up and leaned against the headboard and watch the little robot stare at the map Hannah gave them. "I have already narrowed down at least 5 plausible secret entrances or walls."

"Yeah, that's one way to put it," Amanda sighed as she thought back on everything that happened, her eyes wandering lazily about the room. The room Hannah- well her mother- put her it wasn't all that bad. It had the usual wardrobes, drawers, desks etc and the fact that it had its own bathroom and toilet was great. She didn't have to wake up and fight the little gremlins to brush her teeth first thing in the morning. The only thing she had a bit of problem was that she couldn't open the windows unless you counted the big window in the bathroom, her bed was right in front of the door and that her room was right next to the floor toilet and the playroom. Which Amanda assumed was the place where the England Cousins as she dubbed them, would get all rowdy and play together doing whatever sisters do to bond.

* * *

"Hey, Stanbot?" Amanda asked, already an awkward emotion worked into her stomach. She didn't like asking tips on how to socialise, especially when it's towards something she already, kinda fucked up. But Amanda did promise to behave and promises are something she was taught to keep. She never liked it when she broke them. "How the hell do you get a bunch of kids to like you?"

"Do the opposite of what you did to make them not like you," Stanbot answered before their lights blinked in an exciting pattern and they made a quick mark on their map they copied from Hannah's version.

Amanda snorted, her mind already thinking back to her first interaction with Alice. "Exist?"

"I'll be there for your funeral," Stanbot deadpanned, dodging when a small pillow was thrown in their direction.

"Stop having a personality dammit," Amanda scowled, another pillow already in her hand before she blinked, then groaned and slammed the pillow tiredly on her face. "And I need to calm the fuck down." God, she really needed to keep her temper in check, usually, she's okay but the fact that a very important thing was only an hour from now was starting to wear her down.

Never in her life, Amanda would be nervous about meeting the same people again for something as simple as dinner. But here she was being nervous as hell. Sure, there was the unsolved problem of Dick trying to find her and the fact that if she fucked up she could go back to America but there was something more prominent in her worries. A part of her just really didn't want to make the wrong impression, as of why she had no idea.

"Three weeks," Amanda mumbled to herself as she removed the pillow from her face. In her mind, a flashback played in her head yet again, the same memory that has been repeating numerous times already. It was the moment in the room Amanda now knew as the Sunroom, where Amanda was pinned to a wall and then pinned back in return. Amanda could still hear heated flusters of Hannah's voice and feel the warmth in the small space between them. Even now her lips instinctively curled to a smirk like the one line repeated in her head again and again.

" _Anything could happen in 3 weeks."_

A knock on the door snapped both Amanda and Stanbot out from their respective thinking. They shared a look at each other before the knock repeated again, though at a more intense and faster pace.

"Alright Alright, I'm coming geez," Amanda called out as she shuffled her way out of the bed and headed towards the door. Still, the knocks came coming, if anything they came at an annoying faster and louder pace.

"Holy shit Hannah," Amanda said as she opened the door. "Calm the hell-" Amanda's words fell to an abrupt halt as another England that wasn't Hannah stared at her. Alice looked at her with a glare similar to Hannah's. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and a suspicious brow was raised.

"I said ship." Amanda lied instantly, remembering what Lily told her.

"Sure you did," Alice deadpanned with a roll of her eyes. "Look, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to considering that we're having dinner at 7:30pm." Amanda looked at her, wary distrust whirring in her mind. From what she remembered, Hannah told her that Dinner was often at 7pm.

"Is Rosa having dinner later than usual?" Amanda asked, leaning against the doorway nonchalantly to further inspect Alice's reactions. To her surprise and dismay, Alice held her reaction pretty well, except for the twitch of her eye that Amanda noticed, as well as the fleeting touch of amber skirting on her cheeks. The sight made Amanda grin, someone still needed to learn how to hide their emotions better.

"Yes," Alice said, daring to look Amanda right in the eye. For a little annoying brat, Amanda admired her courage. "Hannah also said that you needed to wear-" Alice struggled this time to keep her expression neutral, her lips twisted and pulled back into her cheeks and her nose crinkled like she smelt something disgusting. "The Suit."

Amanda herself struggled to hold her laughter back but somehow managed to restrain it with a cheeky grin. She was glad to know that Alice couldn't lie about her unexplained disgust about her even if she tried. "I hear you loud and clear kid."

Just like that, the disgust vanished into thin air and the space between the two was destroyed. Alice, out of nowhere, with a ferocity Amanda didn't think she was capable of having, grabbed Amanda by the collar of her shirt and dragged her down to her eye level.

"Don't call me a kid you buck tooth hillbilly," She snarled before she shoved Amanda back to the door and started to walk away. "And don't tell Hannah about this."

"Well," Amanda said as she watched the younger England walk away, easily imagining the older one she knew in her place. "Appearances aside, she's definitely Hannah's family alright." Amanda knew about the England rage, often the target herself though it was fair considering how much a lovable ass she can be to Hannah. "Don't you agree Stanbot?" Amanda said as she walked back to her room and closed the door.

" _That's_ the child you're trying to appease?" Stanbot asked instead of answering her question.

Amanda snorted as she opened her bag and started to put away her clothes, she might as well do something to pass the time now that she wasn't procrastinating in bed. "Oh yeah, that's Alice, oldest of the bunch. She hates me for some reason."

"Then I agree with my previous statement if you want to make amends it would be better if you didn't exist or on your deathbed."

"Oh wowww," Amanda said, slightly offended as she turned around to look at Stanbot. "So you're telling me that in order for us to be friends I have to die or almost die?"

The little robot shifted uncomfortably. "Well… when you put it like that it sounds bad, but really it speaks more about her than it does about you. "

Amanda laughed as she rose to her feet with her suit Hannah didn't even look at when they bought it. She didn't believe Alice at all when she said dinner was at half past seven, she was going to come to the dining room at 7pm, just on time or early just to spite her. "Yeah well, looks like I'm just going to used to being hated then, I'm not going to die for that brat."

"You can always almost die," Stanbot commented as Amanda left the suit hanging on the wardrobe handles before grabbing her towel and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

"Yeah well, I'm not going to do that too!" With those final words, Amanda entered the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

* * *

Hannah waited nervously at the dinner table, eyes constantly glancing at the door for Amanda's appearance. Her cousins were already here, all in the same outfits they were in when they first met except for Alex. Alex wanted to wear a grey bunny onesie because she 'magically became one' after she played outside and Hannah didn't have the heart to say no.

"We having caroots Hannah?" Alex asked as she jumped her way to Hannah. She misbalanced herself on the last jump and fell forwards but Hannah caught her before any harm was done.

"Careful sweetie," Hannah said as she helped Alex gain her footing. "Also I'm not too sure, the fae told me it would a surprise for the guests." Alex nodded in thought, her bunny ears flopping as her head bobbed. In the corner of her eye, Hannah could see her sisters' smiles at how cute she was before they turned back to their own whispered conversations.

"Where is Admanta Hannah?" Hannah turned to her, ready to explain before Alex cut in, "The big hand is pointing seven." Alex pointed at the clock on the wall and Hannah's eyes followed and indeed, it was 7 o'clock. The perpetual worried state Hannah was in paused as she looked down at Alex in her adorable bunny onesie. Alex was looking up at her, her big heterochromatic eyes wide with a smile as she shifted in her spot.

"Since when did you get so smart?" Hannah cooed as she picked up the little girl, sitting her on her lap. Alex giggled at the praise, going as so far to cover her face but having one eye peeking through her finger, embarrassed.

"Since I taught her about the time," Hannah's mother answered, the double dark oak doors opening with a magical flare to enhance her entrance.

"Auntie Rosa!" Alex yelled with a laugh as she scrambled down Hannah's lap and ran up to Rosa with a hug around her legs.

Rosa laughed endearingly at her, one hand patting her back with gentle softness. "Hey there darling." Her eyes then rose and landed on her daughter and the gentle pats stopped.

Hannah rose from her seat awkwardly, this was the first time she was going to meet her mother, let alone talk since she last left for school and it showed. Her obvious avoidance with her mother was as transparent as the not closing distance between them.

"Hello mother," She greeted, eyes glancing more at the space behind Rosa than at her face, missing the genetic surprised expression of the England single arched brow.

Rosa nudged Alex towards her sisters before she walked to Hannah. As always her steps were defined and spoke of purpose. It walked the talk of an established businesswoman, it was a powerful habit from a powerful period that would not bend to the whims of the mental constructs of time. However, Rosa's face was soft, hazel eyes overwhelming with maternal warmth like always.

"Hannah, my dear," Rosa whispered as she reached her daughter. Her arms were open and there was comforting ease that came to Hannah as she readily accepted it. The soft squeeze of her mother's arms wrapped around her shoulders loosened the tension within Hannah's body and her head nestled more to the soothing spot of Rosa's shoulder. "I missed you so much."

This, Hannah, realised as she hugged harder, this was what home smelt like, not the forest scent of the living room. It was the smell of her mother's ocean perfume Meera gave her mixed in with small traces of dirt from her gardening, the easy smile on her lips and closed eyes that relished more and more of her mother's embrace that she didn't realise she missed so much. This was home.

"I missed you too, mum," Hannah said, voice muffled in the embrace. Automatically, the embrace fell apart and Hannah winced at the sudden pinch of her left cheek.

"Then why are you so scared of seeing me again you silly girl," Rosa said, voice more light and teasing but still full of affection as she stopped pinching Hannah's cheeks and instead squashed them lightly with the palms of her hands. "And why are you nervous?"

"Mummm," Hannah said as she pushed her hands away from her, a small blush on her cheeks upon the realisation that she was so easily read by her mother. "I'm not nervous."

"Now don't lie to me Hannah Rose England," Rosa said in a matter of fact way, "You're my daughter and I know you." Before Hannah can comment on anything, her mother took her hands and held them firmly, always still one step ahead. "So please," she said, voice soft yet again. "Stop worrying about the dinner. I even changed traditions just this once so that Amanda O'Neill can be comfortable with us."

The phrasing of 'That Amanda O'Neill' gave Hannah some semblance of hope that her date and her mother haven't met yet. "Wait did you meet Amanda yet?"

"Oh I met her alright," Rosa laughed, she moved her hands and started to walk away, ushering the other girls to their seats as the kitchen door to the dining room opened. Soon plates began to be set by the fae servants. "She's an interesting date for sure Hannah," Rosa said with an easy smile. Their eyes met and Rosa winked, "I can't wait for the all stories you left out in your letters."

Hannah blushed in embarrassment as she thought back at all the various shenanigans that happened, especially the ones she didn't want to share. But before Hannah could say anything the double doors of the foyer entrance of the dining room opened and Hannah's cheeks darkened to the crimson shade of Amanda's suit.

The suit Amanda wore, aka the suit Hannah made an effort not to see in the changing room, aka the decision that's biting her back right now was a suit that is best described in various synonyms of brilliance but right now Hannah could only describe it with one word. _Hot._

Her blazer was the colour of blood, decorated with elaborate jacquard swirls of dark gold and amber that gleamed underneath the chandelier light. The pattern danced everywhere, from the shoulders to the cuffs of her sleeves, the design even matched the red bow tie Amanda wore for the occasion. Her buttons were of bronze and the dress shirt underneath the glorious jacket of red was jet black to further show off the suit's design. She had slim black pants that matched a clean pair of smart black shoes Hannah didn't even know she owned. To make things even worse for the disaster of a bi, Amanda had her boyish look to her, with her hair up and her face wearing her infamous smirk.

"I'm not late to dinner am I?"

Though she was looking at Hannah for an answer, Rosa was the one to answer with a coy smile, hazel eyes intrigued at her own daughter's jaw dropped expression. "Oh, not at all Amanda dear." Her eyes turned to Amanda and grew from surprise before it narrowed. "I must say that is a gorgeous suit you're wearing."

Now it was Amanda's turn to gauge the reception, her confident smile turning sheepish as she figured out that she was the black sheep in the scenario, a handsome black sheep but one all the same. "I didn't realise there was a change of attire," she admitted, glancing at Hannah for a response. Hannah didn't answer, her mind was still trying to pick up her mouth from the floor.

"Yes," Rosa hummed, her eyes turned to Lily. "I didn't realise you didn't get the memo."

Lily raised her hands in a defensive manner. "Hey don't look at me, I did tell Hannah that-" Her eyes widened with a gasp and her worried expression turned to one of sheer joy as she turned to Alice. "So I _AM_ the superior cousin now."

Alice sighed into her hand, her head already down to avoid what was happening in front of her and to internally grumble that her plans backfired on her. "If that what it takes to call that leopard the appropriate name then so be it."

"Is it now?" Rosa asked brow raised yet again. Both of the sisters looked up straight away and paled slightly at the stern look sent to them. " I'll have a word with the two of you later but for now, Amanda dear come sit next to Hannah and help yourself to dinner."

At the sound of her name, Hannah returned back to the living. She coughed into her hand and motioned to the available space next to her whilst avoiding all chances to look at Amanda again, still with a massive blush on her face. With everyone settled down, the dinner finally began. Rosa was at the end of the long table, near to the back door of the kitchen. On her left was her daughter and her date and on the right was the England cousins.

"Hey Hannah," Amanda grinned as she sat next to Hannah and started to prepare her own plate.

"Hey Amanda," Hannah replied, still avoiding Amanda whilst shooting annoyed glares at Alice and Lily. Alice for causing this mess, to begin with, and Lily for her smug grins and badly hidden eyebrow dancing and casual hints towards Amanda. It didn't help that Lily was right in front of Amanda and that Hannah could hear every snicker underneath Amanda's breath.

Alex, who sat in the middle of Lily and Alice, gasped in awe as she looked at Amanda. "Wow, Amadta you have flames!" She cried excitedly, even standing up on her chair to get a better look. "That so cool!" As Alice quickly ushered her to sit back down, Alex's face turned to confusion. "Or is it Hot?"

"Both fits, Alex," Hannah said absentmindedly as she reached out to get a platter of salmon.

Amanda almost did a spit take on her water. "What?"

"Nothing!" Hannah said a little too quickly, her embarrassment igniting the rosy cheeks again as her eyes glance on the salmon. "Just bone fish Alex, be aware of any fish bones in your food okay sweetie?"

Alex's face squirmed with confusion as she looked down on her plate that is full of chicken nuggets. "Uhhhh?" She turned to Alice with a tilt of her head. "Is chicken fish?" Not only did Amanda struggle with her laughter but so did Rosa, Lily, on the other hand, burst out laughing, even Alice giggled as she quickly explained what was happening to a confused Alex. Hannah, in turn, wanted to die, have the world swallow her whole right there and then.

"Y'know you can stop shoving a foot up your mouth if you just admit you like the suit," Amanda whispered conspiringly to Hannah with a nudge of her shoulder.

"I don't like the suit," Hannah spat back without a second to spare. It was a lie. An obvious lie to everyone in the entire world even if Hannah never wanted to admit it.

"Says the girl that cheeks to match it," Amanda countered with a smirk. Just to prove her point she raised her hand and pressed the cuff of her sleeve against Hannah's warm flushed cheeks.

Hannah hated how soft Amanda's suit felt and quickly pushed it out of the way before the thought expanded to wonder about other things. "Get your hand out of my face O'Neill," she growled, finally finding the courage to actually face Amanda.

"Hannah, what do you really think about the suit?" Lily butted in before Amanda could say a response back.

"Well I think it's-"

"Atrocious, tacky?" Amanda cut in, using the same words that Hannah described her in the changing rooms. "Or dare I say... Adequate?"

Hannah rolled her eyes, her blush darkening even more as waved Amanda away, "Shut up and eat Amanda." Thankfully Amanda listened to her after an amused shrug. Hannah took a quick silent sigh under her breath before delving into the home cook meals ma by the fae, indulging in food that didn't have a lot of potatoes involved. She hoped that was the last of the teasing conversations but it wasn't long till something else came up.

After thirty minutes of casual talk, Hannah finding out what her cousins been up to whilst she was gone and Amanda thankfully being smart enough to be quiet, Rosa finally spoke. Her eyes observed curiously of Amanda's actions, noting that Amanda was using the right fork and spoon for various different meals unprompted. "I must say I'm impressed that you haven't asked for help a single time about the cutlery, Amanda."

Hannah turned to Amanda, surprised at herself that she didn't notice it first. Considering that Amanda living with them for three weeks was an impulsive decision, they didn't exactly talk about how to deal with high-class meals or anything else but somehow Amanda seemed to do be doing just fine.

"Oh umm thanks," Amanda said, sounding just as surprised as Hannah was. "Hannah taught me it whilst we were eating together." That was a lie and it confounded Hannah why would she lie when she could reason that she just instinctively knew which one to choose with that instinct gut of hers.

"Wait," Alice said before Hannah could hurry up with her chewing and swallow her food down her mouth. "You two ate together?"

Memories of the talk before, of how intrigued her cousins were about this non-existent relationship she had with Amanda flashed in Hannah's head. "In the Luna Nova cafeteria yes," she answered as soon as she swallowed her food to shut down the theories forming in Alice's head.

Lily didn't spare a single second. "But did you actually eat together alone at one point?"

Amanda turned to Hannah, a glint in her mischievous green eyes. "Well…"

Another memory came to Hannah's head and the grip on her fork tightened. "No, you're not telling the story, Amanda."

"Why not? I'm a great storyteller."

"You embellish it."

"What does Embewish mean?" Alex said with half a chicken nugget still in her mouth.

"It means to exaggerate, tell tall tales or lies to make everything have more flair and drama," Hannah explained before she looked back at Amanda. "Something you do all the time."

"Okay, I do a bit of that but not all the time."

"Oh please," Hannah scoffed. "I haven't heard a story from you where you don't exaggerate something."

"Well, what if I tell the story and say how amazing and delicious your ratatouille was and how pretty and studious, and pretty studious you were when I watched you cook it for me in the middle of the night." Amanda reasoned, not noticing the stunned looks everyone else had as they watched the pair talk. "I wouldn't be exaggerating would I?"

There was a slight pause in the air as all the Englands involved took time to digest 1) what Amanda said and 2) what was also implied. Then all at once, everyone said what was on their mind.

"Hannah dear you can cook?"

"Hey Alice, you'd think they did a lady and the-"

"Finish that sentence Delilah I _dare_ you."

"Amanda I swear to Jennifer, I'm going to-"

"What does stew-de-us mean?"

"It means you are really smart with books or you really really really want to do something," Rosa explained before she focused on her daughter. "On another note, Hannah dear can you really cook?"

The excitement in her mother's eyes, mixed in with the curious stares from everyone else par Amanda started to make Hannah nervous and her hands fiddled with the table cloth beneath most people's view. "Well, I know a few things here and there. It's not really that great."

"Stop selling yourself Hannah," Amanda said, turning Hannah's family on her whilst Amanda kept looking at Hannah with a smile. "Your food is seriously amazing."

"Did she make you some?" Lily squealed in excitement, two seats down from her, Alice buried her hands in her head and let out a muffled groan.

"Yes."

"No."

Alex giggled as both girls turned to each other, Amanda with a smirk and Hannah with a frown. "Ratatouille," Amanda said sparking another flurry of anger in Hannah's brain. A more detailed memory played in Hannah's head at the name, recalling the night better than ever.

"That doesn't count and you know it," Hannah said through gritted teeth.

"Oh?" Amanda dared as she started to count on her fingers. "1) You made the meal with an intention of me eating it. 2) You handed it to me, 3) The food landed in my mouth and I ate it."

In her head, Hannah was already listing the contradictions. 1) She made it under the guise that they were in a competition to make ratatouille against each other after watching the Disney movie of the same name. 2) She shoved it in Amanda's face when she realised she got tricked. 3) Of course, some would land in her mouth, it went everywhere, especially on the hair.

"See," Hannah exclaimed, gesturing Amanda to everyone. "Don't trust her as a storyteller she would embellish everything."

"Don't worry Hannah, pretty sure Alice does the first three words already!" Lily quipped, shifting more closer to an innocent Alex as she felt her sister's piercing death stare on her.

"Well then Hannah my dear, " Rosa said as she stopped giving her nieces a side-eye glance, "I would like to hear your side of the story."

"If I must," Hannah sighed before she took a sip of her drink.

Hannah recounted the tale of when after a movie night when everyone else was asleep, the only two girls awake snuck into the kitchen to see who was better at cooking Ratatouille with some sort of bet in mind. Hannah then realised that Amanda has no idea how to cook, a fact she mentioned after Hannah made hers (one had to stay lookout and the other had to cook) so in righteous anger, Hannah shoved the food in her face before they had to escape being caught by one of the patrolling teachers.

"Good times," Amanda laughed as the story came to a close. "We should really do it again someday." Hannah rolled her eyes at her, more focused on seeing everyone else' reaction to the story. Alice looked more annoyed at Lily's pestering than she did about Amanda for once, though she did grin at the food to face part. Lily kept on muttering things to Alice with mischievous expressions whilst Alex in the middle of them gave her full attention with a curious and happy smile.

Her mother, on the other hand, was very neutral about the story, despite being the one to request it, something that was common but gave Hannah a feeling of anxiety that she said the wrong thing. After all, she just admitted that she broke curfew to mess around with a friend and before, she got mad at Isabelle for doing a similar thing ten years ago.

"Hannah my dear thank you for telling us the story," Rosa said as she started to rise from her seat. "Do you mind being a dear and walk with me back to my room? I feel rather tired after a good meal and story." Hannah instantly rose from her seat and walked to her mother, taken her away through the double door entrance before pausing as her mother stopped to turn at everyone else. "Curfew is at 10 and the story is not one to replicate in this house understand?"

"Yes, Auntie Rosa."

Rosa then gave a pointed look to Amanda who immediately straightened her posture under her gaze. "Yes, Ms Rosa." Rosa chuckled at the term as she left the door and went to the foyer, Hannah following right behind her, nerves tingling in every part of her body.

* * *

 **A/N Oh my god. Mad respect to other writers who update daily and don't have a backlog like WOW I was so busy this week I didn't think I could finish it and upload it today. Anyways! Next week is the last chap of the arc! I'm excited! Cause then we can really really start getting into the good stuff™. Hope you like the chapter! It's not the best cause I write like most of it on the day of the upload so I didn't have time to look over but yeah! See you next week! Also, check Tumblr Worldsinword (no end S) for Amanda's suit from Chap 4.**

 **Fun Fact: When I was planning the story I was listening to a lot of Ratatouille's Le Festin a lot which is why the movie and food has a reference in the fic.**


	8. Chapter 8

Straight away as they moved from the doors, her mother began the conversation. "That was quite a story back there," she hummed, her steps echoing in the silent halls before she turned her head and smiled. Hannah smiled back, her nerves dancing between her fingertips and she hid her hands behind her back. "I didn't realise you were quite an adventurer."

They were at the dual staircases in the middle now and Hannah laughed at her mother, letting some of her worries escape at the sound. It wasn't that she was scared of her mother, but what she wanted to talk about in private. The talk from the garden about her coming out as well as the neutral and expected reactions came to mind as they descended up the stairs. "I guess Auntie Katherine had more of an influence on me than we thought."

A smile rose from Rosa's lips, a warm glow of nostalgia bloomed from her hazel eyes and both of them paused in the middle of the stairs. Hannah refused to look at her, or at the decorative pieces of the walls, the familiar hunger of longing and lost seep slowly as small memories of her deceased family appeared in her head like a heartbeat.

"You know," Rosa whispered conspiringly causing Hannah to look back at her and her grin. "Between you and me, Katherine would've loved that Amanda girl." Straight away Hannah burst out into giggling, hiding the wide smile with her hand. "It's true and you know it," Rosa laughed as she walked back up the stairs, her chuckles leading the way.

What makes the statement funnier was that it was true. Hannah's aunt would've loved Amanda, she was always one to enjoy chaos and mischief and even though the thought of them never meeting hurt, the idea of her aunt liking Amanda gave Hannah some semblance of peace. "Don't tell Alice that," she laughed, knowing full well that her younger cousin would flip at the idea of her current 'greatest enemy' and her mum getting along.

"I would never," Rosa grinned as the reached the landing of the first floor. "I'll wait at least till they become better friends."

"You actually think they would become friends?" Hannah snorted as she followed her mother. Without realising, the unease inside Hannah began to leave at the easy conversations. She didn't even realise that her mother wasn't leading her towards her own room, but at the balcony tucked away in the corner.

"After I give both her and Lily a talk yes, it might take the whole week or three but they'll be friends eventually." Rosa opened the door to the balcony and the wind brush against Hannah's skin woke Hannah up again and fear pounces at her ribcage entangling and crushing what happy moments with anxiety and slight panic. Hannah didn't need to look at her hands to know that they started to shake.

The smile on Rosa's face fades as she turned to her daughter, slowly with gentle care Rosa walked towards Hannah and held her hands. She gave them a tight comforting squeeze and her caring motherly eyes never failed to look away from her daughter, "There's something I need to talk to you about," she whispered, voice gentle as a nightingale.

"Does it has to be outside?" Hannah hated how her voice quivered, quiet even in the silence around them. Her mind was racing, invasive taunting thoughts cackled how everything will be ruined, that she made a horrible mistake again like a chorus of sirens. Her grip tightened around her mother's hands, holding close like she was on a life buoy on the sea when she heard the jagged lingers of her father's shouting amongst the wreckage of her worried mind.

"Only if you want it to be," Rosa assured, her voice calm as it could be. When Hannah found the strength to look at her, she saw a smile in her mother's eyes as she rose her hand and wiped away the tears lining Hannah's eyes. "You out of all people should know how secluded that little spot is."

The small joke between them broke through the barrier of anxiety like a wave and the memories of hiding in that one balcony corner swept everything else away. Hannah smiled at the thoughts, of when caught Alice trying to scale down it to run away from a prank, or how the shade of the trees just enough sunlight to warm her napping uncle but not too much to wake him. She remembered hiding there, catching her breath at an intense game of hide, seek, tag she played with everyone in her family, Barbara included.

"Okay," Hannah nodded as she exhaled a shaky breath, eyes focusing again on the floor as she edged forward to the moonlight. "We can talk there."

"That's my brave girl," Her mother praised as she lead her there. It was strange to be called brave, Hannah realised as her chest still tightened at the cold brush of wind against her fingers before her mother cast a spell to block out the elements. No one really ever called her brave, not even herself and she definitely didn't feel brave right now, only stupid. And scared, panicked, a whole lot of other stuff really, just not brave.

Hannah sat on the wooden bench against the wall, her mother sitting right next to her, hands still intertwined with that motherly fondness. No one could hear them here, although people could watch from below from above, barely anyone in the family goes to the third floor now. It's full of ghosts and paths to memory lanes that no one wants to visit.

"So," Hannah said, her eyes didn't meet her mothers and only focused on the twilight scenery. The moon looked beautiful. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well," Rosa sighed heavily as she looked at their intertwined hands and squeezed it. "I want to start with an apology."

Hannah never turned around so quickly. "What?"

Rosa looked at her daughter, lips expressing a sad smile. "I never said sorry for how I treated you in the past did I Hannah dear?"

"What?" Hannah repeated, lost and taken back by the statement. "No-" She found herself struggling to speak, memories flashing of the days where she was younger. Even now she could still feel the tightness of the past hugs, she could hear the sincereness in her mother's weeps. "-You apologised," Hannah said as her eyes stared at Rosa. "Constantly for your mistakes. It's okay-"

"Hannah."

Hannah ignored her. "I already forgiven you-" She stopped or was forced to stop when Rosa placed a finger on her lips.

"Let me finish."

Slowly, Rosa removed her finger and sighed as she looked back at the building. Hannah noticed how her mother's eyes moved to the window of the third floor and her heart sank a bit more. It seemed that despite the appearance, her body still grieved as well. "I never apologised for constantly pushing tradition on you growing up… " Rosa confessed, her eyes found solitude in Hannah's eyes and she ducked her head in shame. "And for that, I am so very sorry."

"You had your reasons," Hannah argued, her voice hesitant to defend her mother when she herself was so adamant not to. "Magic was dying, we needed to preserve what we could of our culture and history. That's why Auntie Katherine loved history so much." Another twinge of pain plucked Hannah's heartstrings and she took a moment to recover. She grieved like her mother. She missed her family. "Even now with magic is restored, tradition is still important."

"I agree my dear. But still, I did drill in your head growing up that keeping the tradition is important. Only to realise that you don't need to follow every spec of tradition, that tradition can be old and outdated at times and that it's allowed to be bent or removed entirely if it's for the greater good."

Hannah stared at her mother like she grew a sudden head. "Mother, are you feeling unwell?"

"Again with the formalities," she heard Rosa mumble under breath. Hannah didn't even have a chance to ask about what that was all about before her breath got stolen from her. "My point is Hannah my dear," Rosa looked at her straight in the eyes, her love and understanding unwavering as the night sky. "You don't need to be ashamed of your homosexuality nor hide your relationship with Amanda."

There was a pause in time. Silence didn't become infinite but finite. Panic, however, screaming from the very depths of Hannah's mind was infinite. Infinite in the theories of how she figured out, infinite in the way she scrambled through her own memories to figure out the hints, of the paper trail she didn't know she left. Infinite in the way her mind is _aware_ that something needed to be said, that silence was finite and when it was over Hannah still didn't have a word on her tongue or rational thought in her head.

"I see my acceptance shocked you," Rosa stated, snapping Hannah back to reality her mind still screaming. The finite silence has ended. Now was just a leap in the dark. A leap that held no anchor as Rosa pulled her hand away from Hannah, head bowed in sincere shame and Apologies. "I can only hope it's because I said it before you came out and not because of the wide chasm of what just happened and the dark reality you already envisioned."

"No, I-" Hannah grasped her mother's hand in lightning speed, surprising both of them as her brain used the silence to stall and think. Was she ready for this? Was she ready to come out?

 _"You need to stop stressing out Rosie, everything will be fine."_

…

Damn that stupid American.

Hannah took a deep breath, her hands shook but her eyes remained resolute to the plan in her head. "Mum…" She took a deep breath again and her voice trembled. "I'm not a lesbian."

"Oh," There was another pause, not out of shock or malice but surprise. "Oh I'm so sorry then for assuming Hannah my dear, I thought with how you acted with Aman-"

Hannah shut her eyes and braced for negativity. "I'm bi."

"Oh." The Oh was sharper this time and the clear difference made Hannah's heart wince. Her breath, held in her own lungs was starting to suffocate her. "That's… when you like more than one gender isn't it Hannah?"

"Y-Yes," Hannah breathed, exhaling all the tension building up all the way from months ago in her body. Slowly, heart racing as it lept in her throat in a thrill of having freedom, Hannah opened her eyes and the heart was caught in her throat. Her mother's eyes, damp with tears, reflected something Hannah only saw in a fleeting dream in a land of nightmares. Love. It was love overwhelming and unconditional, understanding and proud. It was the unspoken symphony of care and compassion and it made Hannah tear up even before she felt the teardrop on her skin, before she almost tackled her mother to the ground from her hug.

"You know Kara taught me all about bisexuality a year or two ago," Rosa began and Hannah couldn't help but crack a smile at the familiar name. "Back when we were in Isle of Wight for the summer, she and all the rest of Meera's crew taught me a lot about all of this, when I first had my suspicions," Hannah remembered that time, apparently her mother tried to adopt everyone in the crew despite some having parents still, she was glad to know that this was the reason why. "And one of the things that they taught me was how cruel the world can be because you're seen as different and how these parents are failures to their children who done nothing wrong."

"So I want to say is this," Rose pulled away from the hug and held Hannah by her cheeks, pushing them gently as Hazel eyes stared at each other. "You, Hannah Rose England, are one of my favourite things in this world. You have a wonderful heart that can see the beauty in more than one gender and it is a heart that I will forever love and cherish and be proud to call my own." Rosa takes a shuddering breath, her sincere tears marking another heartfelt moment that Hannah would never forget. "And I will continue to love you no matter the spectrum, whether it will be the gender, aromantic, asexual or just the spectrum of how much you love girls. You're always going to be my precious Rose, Hannah my dear." Before Hannah knew it, there was a calming familiar touch of a kiss on her temple as a shadow loomed over her face. "Always."

Hannah didn't reply, she couldn't reply. She buried herself in her mum's arms in an instant. Her hands were too busy gripping the fabric of her mother's dress to the point where it hurt and reminded her that this was real. Her chest was heaving, her tears dried out her mouth and all she could do was nuzzle her head further into her mother's embrace, trying to relax at the soothing brushes of hair.

"You need a minute Hannah, my dear?" Rosa asked. Hannah nodded, her lips mirroring the smile she could hear in the question as they stayed there in relative silence, both trying to calm down until Rosa broke the peace again.

"You know," Rosa said after much needed minutes passed and Hannah remembered to breathe properly again. "Your aunt Kathy was probably bi herself if she knew what it was growing up. We didn't have terms like that back in those days." Hannah giggled at her words, breaking the hug with a delighted smile. "What are you smiling at my dear?"

"This is the first time since you called aunt Katherine Kathy since…" Hannah explained, the pause of grief was still there but it was much briefer than before. "Since they died."

The reminder brought a flabbergasted look on Rosa's face before she looked up and smiled, a tinge of bittersweetness on her lips. "Well," it's a lot easier to use nicknames with Amanda bringing it back full." She looked back down, hazel eyes grinned mischief in the moonlight and she raised her eyebrows. "Isn't that right Rosie?"

"Mumm," Hannah whined, her blush warming her cheeks and fingers as covered her face. Despite the help she unintentionally gave, Hannah was going to kill Amanda for this moment right here and now.

"Oh I'm sorry," Rosa laughed. "I didn't realise it was a girlfriend exclusive term."

Hannah's brain stopped like a record scratch. Her widened eyes froze and she looked up, hoping that she misheard her mother. "A what?"

"Girlfriend exclusive, like a pet name."

"No, but- you think? I- me and Amanda?" Hannah spluttered, her brain was again going through the motions of infinite screaming theories, of infinite scramblings of memories to figure out how this big misunderstanding happened. Needless to say, it didn't take long to remember everything that happened.

"Well, I didn't exactly think, I saw. I mean you brought your girlfriend home after all" Rosa corrected shutting up Hannah's thoughts as a PowerPoint of incidents whirled through Hannah's brain like the chase, the pinning, the entirety of dinner! Hannah's cheeks burned with every slide. "I understand if you had to hide it from me Hannah but don't worry, you don't need to hide your relationship anymore," Rosa said as she rose from her seat, smile wide and arms opened. "Traditions are overruled!"

"But-"

"Actually I changed my mind," Rosa quickly retracted as she leaned against the bannister of the balcony, eyes looking towards the moon. "Some traditions need to stay still. For example no sharing a room with Amanda at night. Even if she is your girlfriend and she needs to stay in the guest room and I don't want any hanky panky happening either in the next three weeks."

Hannah made an embarrassed noise like a keysmash, her tongue fumbled against itself as her face burned red at the implication that her own mother thought they could be having sex.

"Although," Rosa hummed as she placed her elbows on the bannister. "If find her in the morning and you're both fully clothed and just sleeping I'm sure I can turn a blind eye to you two sharing a bed." Rosa then turned to Hannah with a smirk. "But I will take a photo as a compensation depending on how cute you guys are."

"MUM!" Hannah screamed, not even sure if she was thinking coherently anymore from all of this.

"Alright alright I'll stop with the teasing," Rosa laughed, her eyes glancing at the doors around the bend. "You should get going to your girlfriend though."

"She's not my…" Hannah sighed, giving up right there and then, too surprised and too tired to deal with this. "I'm sure she's fine, I might need a bit of a walk."

"No, I'm saying this because the kids are probably interrogating her as we speak and I'm sure she would love a way to escape."

Hannah's eyes went wide and the thought killed parts of Hannah's coloured cheeks. "SHIT!"

"Language!" Rosa laughed as the rushed steps of her daughter disappeared. Out of sight, the happy relaxed smile tightened and her eyes stared up at the moon and the blanket of constellations.

"Amanda, Caohime, O'Neill." She whispered slowly, testing and judging the name on her tongue. Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Why do you sound so familiar?"

The judgment repeated, again and again, the name was spoken like a ritual or a chant. Until finally it stopped when a colder breeze brushed through Rosa and her breath halted and her eyes widened. Then her lips curled upwards to a disbelieving laugh. " _That_ , my dear," She said seemingly to no one but her own thoughts. "Explains everything."

* * *

It was only when the doors of the dining room shut did Amanda realise the stillness of the air and dagger stares in her general direction. Amanda glanced over the kids' heads, ignoring the pointed look from Alice and the curious almost nosy stare from Lily and instead focused and wished she had Alex's blissfully unaware aura. This was the first time Amanda was left alone with the England Cousins and she won't lie, she was a bit nervous and scared.

"So," Amanda said, regretting her action to speak the moment she did it. "This fish you got here, it's really great."

Straight away Lily snorted and Alice's eyes narrowed. "You're eating chicken."

Well, they were off to a great start. "Right," Amanda laughed nervously, unsure if it would be rude to leave right here and now. "So Lilypad," Amanda said, hoping that by talking to the easier of the two, the rest of the talk would be better. "You like theatre plays, ever held a sword?"

Before Lily could answer, taking a second to gasp wide eyed, Alice took the bite instead, voice furious. "Are you trying to influence my sister to violence!?"

"No!" Amanda denied straight away, crossing off showing her sword she owned straight away from the list. "I just thought because people held swords a lot in shakespeare plays, like uhhh Romeo and Juliet!"

Alice was about to say something but got caught off guard as Lily shoved her hand to her face to shut her up, her body leaning more forward across the table. "You know Romeo and Juliet?" She asked an excited grin on her face and reflected in her eyes.

Amanda nodded with a white lie on her tongue. She didn't exactly know it but when dick's shitty step dad forced her to private tutoring, her teachers did try to make her read it. She gave it an honest try but she gave up when she realised quickly that it was just about two straight people being idiots again and killed themselves for each other and that the mattered would've been saved if one of them just waited. "Yep," she grinned. "Oh, Romeo Romeo let down your hair." That was a line in that play right?

Alice's eyes went wide. "That's not even-"

"Alice shut up." Lily pushed her hand up against Alice's face again, eyes not leaving Amanda's. "So you know the balcony scene huh?"

It was a balcony scene. Sure. "Yep," Amanda nodded, lying straight through her teeth. "Favourite scene out of the whole play." Somehow despite the growing smile on Lily's face, Amanda didn't feel her nerves diminish. "I do it every day."

Lily's eyes widened and her eyebrows arched. "Everyday huh?"

"Well, not every day," Amanda corrected, quickly realising that maybe she laid it on too thick. "But at least once a week."

"Really?"

"Yep. Balcony and all."

"With Hannah?"

"Sure why not," Amanda shrugged, if that helped them believe that they're friends Amanda could live with it. "Her room has a balcony anyways."

Straight away, Lily pounced, plates and cutlery clattering as she slammed her fist on the table. "SO YOU TWO KISSED?"

"I'M PRETTY SURE THAT'S NOT IN THE PLAY!" Amanda shouted, her volume matching Lily's as the unsuspecting shade of red spread across her flustered cheeks. She was not expecting that at all, especially the implication that she and Hannah kissed. They didn't think that the term date, meant that they were actually dating, did they?

"See Alice," Lily grinned with a smug look as she turned to her scowling sister, "Hannah's girlfriend read the play, kisses only happened in the movie versions."

Oh my god, they actually did.

"Hey umm, guys," Amanda laughed nervously when all eyes turned to her. "I'm not Hannah's girlfriend." Somehow, telling the truth made things worse. Amanda thought Alice would've been relieved but instead, Amanda saw her jaw tighten and her knuckles curled. Lily looked at her like she was disappointed like Amanda just said a big lie. Alex didn't say anything, she just watched with chocolate cake smeared around her face and as much as Amanda wanted to point it out to deflect the tension, she had a feeling in her gut things will get worse if she did.

"Look," Amanda sighed, her voice cautious whilst her eyes tried their best to glance at the door in her most subtle way ever. "Hannah is a great girl," Amanda complimented, the words coming more easier than she thought. "A beautiful, funny girl with a big heart and as much as I would love to be her girlfriend, we're not. We're just friends."

"Oh so _now_ you put the friends' act huh?" Alice spat, the familiar rage of the England bloodline expressing itself with the curling lips of disgust and narrowed eyes and brows. "After all the romantic bs you pulled throughout the day."

"Wait what?" Amanda said, confused at the statement. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?" Lily pointed out. Amanda glanced at a silver spoon and remembered that she was still in her red suit she wore for dinner. Okay, that's not fair, she wouldn't even in this suit and make Hannah act like that if Alice didn't lie to her and screw her over.

"Okay this," Amanda said, pointing to herself, "Was not my fault, someone didn't give me the memo."

"I figured you deserved a bit of humility after you embarrassed Hannah," Alice reasoned stiffly. "I thought you would wear that stupid suit with shorts."

"Wait wait wait," Amanda said, her mind backtracking on what Alice just said. There was only one way for Alice to see that considering that the suit was still unpacked. "You spied on us?"

"Not exactly spying if you flirt in the middle of a landing you chav." Now, with the second time hearing it, did Amanda register it as a big insult.

"Aliss stwooopp!" Alex called, bringing the table's attention to her. Amanda didn't know four-year-olds could be angry but apparently, they could. Alex's eyes were angry as her eyebrows lowered and her lips were in the pout. Even the beard the chocolate cake gave her didn't help ease the attention.

"Holy heck Alex," Lily said as she tried to get a napkin and clean Alex up but Alex refuted her, swiping away Lily's hand.

"Stwop!" Alex said, her little eyes starting to turn glossy as she looked up at Lily. "Stwop bein loud!" She turned to Alice, her older sister's rage wilting down at her innocent stare. "And stwop being mean to Admanta!"

The small tiny words of defence, from an even tinier human within a bunny onesie, soothed Amanda's fiery anger in an instant. "Alex…" She whispered in soft disbelief.

Alex turned to her. "Admanta is nice frien." Now Alex's lips were trembling, words being more incomphrendle as Amanda's heart turned soft and broke with every word. "I wike Admanta. An it bad to spy an you spy on Admanta. Now Admanta is not wappy an 'annah is sad and I- sad."

The last word was choked on a tiny sob and Amanda rose from her seat before anyone could do anything. "Do you want a hug kiddo?" Alex nodded her head and she jumped off her seat before anyone could stop her, she ran around the table to Amanda with Amanda running as well to meet her halfway and collect her up in her arms. Alex was still blubbering, crying into Amanda's shoulder but Amanda didn't care, she didn't even care about the other England Cousins, her focus was only on Alex. "Shhh," she said with a smooth soft voice. "It's gonna be okay kiddo."

"I'm sworry," Alex cried, her tiny arms clinging tight around Amanda's neck.

"Hey hey hey," Amanda said, rubbing her hand gently across Alex's back. "It's okay, it's not your fault."

"Oh, are you saying it's our fault?" Alice asked from the other side of the table as she rose. Amanda glance in their general direction, not at all surprised but the intense rage from Alice nor the apprehensive and hesitant look from Lily. Her blue eyes flickering back at Amanda and Alex in her arms. She was glad to know that at least one of them had their priorities straight.

"Look I'm not saying anything right now," Amanda said, sounding a lot colder than usual but still kept her tone even and calm for the sake of the baby in her arms. "If you have a problem with me we can go any time you want, just not with Alex around which includes right now."

"Well then at least give her to me so that I can calm her down," Alice said, making an effort to at least appear calm and collected. Amanda didn't believe her for one second.

"Hey, Alex you wanna go back to your sister?"

To her surprise, Alex shook her head. "Aliss is mean, you new best frien."

"Oh wowww," Alice drawled, hurt that manifested into anger was evident in her expression.

"Alice stop," Lily said right next to her and she stood up.

Alice turned to her with a snarl. "Oh, so it's like this then huh? Two sisters against One."

"What? No!?" Lily said as she glared at Alice. "Get your head out of your own butt Alice and calm down."

"Calm down?" Alice laughed, her voice teetering to shouting levels gain. "You just seriously asked me to calm down?"

"Yes!" Lily said, exasperated. " Look, you hate Amanda. You're angry. You're annoyed. You're jealous and scared we get it but you need to calm down."

"You take that back. I'm not any of those things," Alice growled, too busy focusing on her sister to notice the surprised expression on Amanda's face.

Lily cocked up an eyebrow. "So are you saying you like Amanda?"

"No!" Alice said, offended. "Come on Delilah you're smarter than this! And I have every right to hate her!"

Lily scoffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms against her chest at the use of her full name. "You hate her because you're scared, jealous and insecure. We get it."

"No! I hate her because she outed Hannah to her mum!" Alice explained as she had an arm outstretched to Amanda. "All for some selfish joke!"

"Wait what?" Amanda cut in, her eyes wide with hurt. She out of all people knew what it was like to be outed when they didn't want to be, she knew from both stories and going through it first hand and she was insulted that Alice thought she would do such a thing. Her was barely above a whisper but the anger screamed louder than everything else that just happened. "You think I did what?"

"Oh, I don't think. I know." Alice growled before she began to ramble. "Hannah was nervous about the wedding, scared to the nine witches. Then here she comes, still nervous but with a big american idiot as a 'Platonic date'. You dance around Hannah and PDA for a laugh despite her still being in the closet for Auntie Rosa, stressing her out, getting her annoyed and angry. Sure you might help her with coming out if she chose to but now she didn't get a choice cause of your stupid selfish jokes at dinner, with Auntie Rosa right there!"

"Woah hang on," Amanda said as she glanced between Lily's worried expression and Alice's dire but now understandable rage. "Hannah didn't come out yet?"

"You didn't know?" Lily asked and to her dismay, Amanda shook her head.

"Of course she didn't know!" Alice cackled, the sound more from angry disbelief than mockery. "She's a big stupid american!"

"Aliss stwapp," cried into Amanda's shoulder, Amanda held her tighter, making sure that her bunny hood was on to muffle the sounds.

"I bet her parents are stupid wild idiots as well."

"Hey," Amanda said, the cold tone of her voice cutting all the words and tension like a knife before slicing it up to a thin wire for all of them to delicately stumble on. "Watch what you say about my mum." Amanda can and would take all the insults directed at her, her mum, however, was a different story.

Alice's eyes narrowed with a scoff. "Or you'll do what?"

Amanda didn't get a chance to answer. The double doors flew wide open and the girl of the hour appeared herself. There was a pause of silence as everyone looked at Hannah and her hazel eyes scanning the situation. Her eyes had tints of red puffiness, the same look for those who cried for too much. A sense of guilt plagued Amanda as Hannah's eyes lingered at her and a sniffling Alex in her arms. She didn't out her, did she?

"Hannah…" Alex whimpered, her hands outstretched to Hannah. Hannah walked over, sound only coming from her footsteps and voice.

"Alex, what happened?" She said as Amanda tried her best to hand her the little girl.

"Well," Alice began, mishearing her cousin. "It all started-"

"I said Alex, Alice," Hannah repeated, not looking at Alice but instead on Alex. "Do you want to tell me what happened sweetie?" She asked in a soft patient voice.

"Well, Lily as'd a ques-chion to Admanta then aliss was bein mean to Admanta and said she spy on admanta and that made me sad. So I cry and then wen to Admanta and aliss was still bein mean and then Lily and Aliss was bein mean to each otter, and then it got loud and Hannah came, now no louder."

"Okay thank you, sweetie," Hannah said as she kissed Alex's temple. "You were a very brave girl." There was a gentle smile on Hannah's face as she brushed away the sticky hair on her cheeks and the tears. "Now do you want to go to Auntie Rosa?"

Alex shook her head. "Admanta."

"You want Amanda to come with you to Auntie Rosa?"

"I wanna stay with Admanta." Hannah looked over at Amanda as Amanda's heart became lighter at the statement and she smiled fondly at the little girl. No wonder why everyone loved her.

Hannah nodded her head as she turned to Amanda, Alex quickly latching on to Amanda. "Shall I take her away Han or?" Amanda asked cautiously, she didn't want to make Alex cry again.

Hannah paused for a second before nodding her. "Take her upstairs on the first floor near the big space in the corner with the balcony, my mother should be there still." Amanda nodded, about to leave until something pulled her back. When she looked down, she saw Hannah holding her hand, not wrist. Hand. A small action that caught Amanda so off guard that she started blushing.

Hannah leaned in and whispered in Amanda's ear. "Meet me in my room at midnight." With that message delivered, Hannah let her go and Amanda scampered out of the room extremely confused.

* * *

It was 11:30PM and Hannah could not sleep. She was outside in her bedroom balcony, waiting for the time to hurry up. Her thoughts were plagued by what happened in the dining room after Amanda and Alex left. The stupid arguments, what could've been said better and how stupid she was. All the thinking made Hannah tired which was why she was outside bracing the cold wind, it was enough to keep her awake. She owed Amanda some answers or warning after what happened today.

"This was such a shit day," Hannah mumbled to herself, head down. She can hear Alice's words still, she can hear herself shouting back.

….

" _That idiot American-"_

" _-Use her name, Alice!" Hannah snarled, patience too wore down to deal with this bullshit. "Use her name nines dammit."_

" _Fine!" Alice screamed back, acting like a child she was. "That_ _ **Amanda,**_ " _she spat out like the name was a slur. "Is a bad influence on Alex."_

" _Is that a fact or a biased opinion after Alex chose her side?" Hannah pointed out. The fact that Alice can only growl back made the matter transparent as glass. "That's what I thought."_

" _She_ _ **outed**_ _you."_

" _My mum already knew," Hannah reasoned, destroying the claim. "She thought me bringing Amanda home was my way of coming out and whilst I was gone I came out to her, so in a way, Amanda helped."_

" _Still! I don't trust her!" Alice motioned to both her and her sister. "We don't trust her!"_

 _Hannah looked at Lily who sat uncomfortably at all the attention for once. "You don't trust her?"_

 _Lily shook her head, then slowly nodded as she played with the food in front of her. "I don't really know," She looked up at Hannah and then at Alice. "But I'm with my sister."_

 _Hannah nodded as she took a deep breath. This was a ride or die moment for Lily and she, as a sister herself would respect that. "Alright, you don't trust her, that's fine, both of you just met her. But you still have to respect her."_

" _And why the nine do we have to do that?"_

" _Because she's my girlfriend," Hannah lied bluntly without a second to spare, her voice serious as the shocked look on their face, which was fair considering all the times she said that they weren't dating. "I'm sorry I hid it but I didn't know how would everyone fare me bringing someone else home who wasn't Barbara or Diana, had I known hiding it would've caused this mess I wouldn't have told her that we needed to hide our relationship."_

 _Alice avoided her eyes as she scratched her arms, an action Hannah seen enough times to know it was powered by guilt. "I'm sorry for insulting your girlfriend then," Alice muttered, just loud enough for Hannah to hear._

" _Tell her you're sorry tomorrow Alice, today was already a long enough day."_

…..

"I can't believe I did that," Hannah mumbled as she covered her face as a blush warmed her fingertips. She can't believe that she actually called Amanda her girlfriend, without blushing as well. "How in the nines name will I break the news to Amanda?"

"Break the news to me about what?"

Hannah jumped at the sound, turning around with eyes wide to find Amanda herself in a hoodie, sweatpants and sneakers perched on the side of the wall, hand holding on a window sill above Hannah. "By the Nine Amanda, how did you get up there?"

Amanda shrugged as she, with expert ease, landed safely on the balcony right next to Hannah. "I climbed over the roof because I had a feeling someone booby trapped my door or something."

"Was that the only reason you climbed my house?"

"Well," Amanda said as she perched her arms on the balcony railing, head facing the constellations. "I kinda wanted to see if I could climb it and if I could reach your window. The fact that you had a balcony helped."

Unbelievable. With reasons like this, it was no wonder why her family kept mistaking them as a romantic couple. Hannah shook her head with a laugh, a hand still on her head from stress. "Wow, if my mum finds out about this we're gonna be screwed so don't do it again please."

"Fine, your roof is pretty cool by the way, kinda abandoned but still pretty cool, even if the flowers are dead."

Hannah forgot that there were flowers growing in the roof, like the third floor it was another part of the house that had too many ghosts and too many hurtful memories. She kinda missed the roof though. "Thanks, I guess."

"So, what did you need to tell me, Hannah?"

Hannah turned to Amanda, eying her hoodie with envy. "Since when did you get straight to the point Amanda?"

Amanda shrugged as she looked over Hannah and frowned. "Honestly, you look like you need a rest," She said before she removed her hoodie and gave it Hannah. "Which is why I came early so you can get better sleep, also where this, you're shivering as hell."

"That's really considerate of you," Hannah said as she put the hoodie on slowly to hide her blush. This was another misunderstanding that would've been chalked up as romantic but because Amanda didn't know she won't blame her, besides it was cold as hell.

"I'm an ass except when it matters, so shoot Hannah, I promise I won't laugh or judge."

"Well, I came out to my mum," Hannah started as she looked at herself, the hoodie was apparently a bit big on her but she didn't mind. Hannah also heavily ignored how it smelt of wood chips and a faint touch of wildflowers.

"Oh damn Hannah," Amanda said with a smile when Hannah looked up at her. Amanda was in flannel instead of her usual tank top for sleepwear, which explained why she didn't mind giving up her hoodie. "That's really great, I'm really proud of you."

"You didn't out me by the way," Hannah quickly added remembering what Alice said.

"Thanks," Amanda laughed as she looked to the silhouette scenery. "Kinda needed that. But seriously," She turned back to Hannah, her smile sincere and genuine. "Coming out is really tough so I'm really happy everything turned out alright."

"Yeah," Hannah smiled back, her eyes looked at the general direction of that balcony hiding space. "My mum was really understanding."

"I'm glad."

Hannah turned to Amanda, the small talk coming as easy as smiling. "Was it hard coming out to your mum?"

"Actually funny story." Amanda chuckled as she looked back up to the night sky. "I never came out to my mum."

"Oh-"

"Because she told me that I could date girls."

"Oh my god."

"Yeah," Amanda laughed, eyes still on the sky. "I was like uhh 5 years old and I liked, I hate this boy because he could pretend to marry this girl I think I had a baby gay crush on and I was really sad about that so my mum was like, y'know girls could marry girls and my baby gay ass was like You could do that?"

"Let me guess you married the girl the next day," Hannah snickered, causing Amanda to look back at her.

"Kinda," She grinned with her usual cheshire smirk, " I had to duel for her hand first."

"Wowww," Hannah drawled with a smirk as she placed her elbow on the balcony railing and rested her hand on her palm. "So chivalrous,"

"You know it," Amanda gave her duall finger guns and a moonlit wink. "Ladies love it."

"Of course," Hannah said with the roll of her eyes as she looked away from Amanda before looking back again. "Hey if in the past you were fine with pretend marrying girls, do you think you're okay pretend dating girls now?"

Sensing the shift and unease in the air, Amanda stood a bit straighter and fully faced Hannah. "I mean, sure I guess?" She shrugged. "Depends on who I'm dating."

Hannah took a deep breath, she could already feel her cheeks burning as she forced herself to look at Amanda in the eye. This was a stupid idea but she already planted her hill so she had to die on it for at least three weeks.

"...Me."

"Oh." There was a pause and for a moment Hannah wanted to die as she watched Amanda have no reaction. "Ohhhh..." Amanda repeated again, turning her head quickly once her brain was working again. "Well umm sure I guess?"

Hannah didn't believe that it went that easily. She expected teasing, laughter or anything before Amanda would eventually agree with this stupid idea. "Seriously?"

"Yeah yeah yeah, sure," Amanda said, quickly, a bit too quickly for Hannah's taste. Hannah moved closer, surprised at how eager Amanda was to move away from her, it was like she was- nooo.

"Wait," Hannah said with a large disbelieving smile as she tried to catch Amanda's face. "Are you blushing?" Before she could have a moment to deny it, Hannah turned Amanda around, her hands quickly covering her mouth in surprise. Never in her life did Hannah expect this.

"Oh my god, you're _blushing_."

"As if you could talk England!" Amanda spluttered, her angry glare becoming irrelevant with how pink and red her pale was. It got to the point where Hannah didn't know where Amanda's pink hair started and where Amanda's blush ended.

"Yeah, it's because I'm the one asking it," Hannah reasoned, still in shock that she got the Amanda O'Neill to blush like that. She memorised the reaction for she knew this was a look she wasn't going to ever see again. "What's your excuse?"

"You caught me off, guard!?" Amanda tried to reason, which made Hannah laugh. Maybe she could reenact the moment again after all. "You can't just ask girls randomly to date you Hannah, or at least fake date you?"

"Well too bad I already did it," Hannah laughed.

"God," Amanda said as she covered her face. "This is such a mess."

"I know right," Hannah agreed as she looked up at the sky for some sort of answer. "What are we doing?"

"Fake dating, that's for sure," Amanda commented casually.

Hannah turned to her, "We're still doing this?"

Amanda shrugged as she looked at her. "I mean, I don't see any downsides to it, your mum can't exactly kick me out if I'm your girlfriend, it'll be bad grace or something so there's that worry you had gone."

"Yeah that's true," Hannah agreed as her mind thought about Veronica and how satisfying it would be to shove it in her face that she got a great girlfriend, well a fake girlfriend… for three weeks. "But this is only for the three weeks okay? After three weeks, we go to Luna Nova and well, never speak of this again and fake break up."

"Works well with me," Amanda nodded. "But uhh, we gotta tell some of your friends cause the two princesses are coming to the wedding and we don't want our cover blown last minute."

"Two princesses?" Hannah asked, as far as she knew, Amanda only called Diana a princess.

"Barbara has like a bajillion castles, Hannah."

Hannah snorted, she completely forgot that Barbara was technically a princess by owning so many castles. "Yeah, I forgot that she was a princess, kinda."

"Wow," Amanda laughed as she turned around and looked at the building. "So, we're fake dating now huh? What the fuck does that mean?"

Hannah yawned, the mental toils of the day finally catching up to her. "I have no idea but do you think we can deal with the technicalities tomorrow? I'm so tired."

"Oh yeah sure. Today been a busy day," Amanda said as she started to get up on the railing to climb back to her bathroom window she managed to open. "Night Hannah."

"Goodnight Amanda," Hannah yawned as she started to walk back in.

"Oh, Hannah?"

Hannah popped her head back out, "What?" She said as he looked at Amanda who gave her a wink and a crooked smirk.

"Try not to fall in love with me Rosie."

Hannah laughed, as in downright laughed at Amanda who started to climb up and away. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

* * *

A **N- Oh my god, wow this week has been so rough that I didn't think I would finish this chapter for today! But I did it! Just really late lol.**

 **Anyways. Folks this is the last chapter of the arc! I haven't written the next arc yet so you readers just gotta wait! (Helps to be updated if you press the subscribe button for AO3 as its the follow fic button in )**

 **We have approx. 12 more to go! This Arc was 50k+ words! It's kinda insane how long this fic will be XD Like, 12 x 55k if all arcs have the same word count. Fucking crazy. Anyways the first arc done, setting the scenes and most of the characters, done. Setting up important character dynamics, why the fuck they're fake dating, to begin with. DONE. I'm so excited to write the next arc, we can see finally see what everyone waiting to see which is fake dating! And! We are gonna cover a very important part of the overall story! So excited!**

 **Fun Fact: A version of the bible is around 740k words and the reason I'm saying this is that if this fic becomes more than 740k (which is a good chance btw) it would be more than the bible. I went to a full writer freak out after I did the math and realised this XD**


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